Public Choices Between Lifesaving Programs how Important are Lives Saved?

Public Choices Between Lifesaving Programs how Important are Lives Saved? PDF Author: Uma Subramanian
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Environmental health
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
Abstract: August 1995 - Do funding priorities for health and safety policies reflect irrational fears? the disaster of the month - rather than address more fundamental problems? A thousand people were surveyed to gauge popular feelings about funding choices between environmental and public health programs. In developing and industrial countries alike, there is concern that health and safety policy may respond to irrational fears - to the disaster of the month - rather than address more fundamental problems. In the United States, for example, some policymakers say the public worries about trivial risks while ignoring larger ones and that funding priorities reflect this view. Many public health programs with a low cost per life saved are underfunded, for example, while many environmental regulations with a high cost per life saved are issued each year. Does the existing allocation of resources reflect people's preoccupation with the qualitative aspects of risks, to the exclusion of quantitative factors (lives saved)? Or can observed differences in the cost per life saved of environmental and public health programs be explained by the way the two sets of programs are funded? Cropper and Subramanian examine the preferences of U.S. citizens for health and safety programs. They confronted a random sample of 1,000 U.S. adults with choices between environmental health and public health programs, to see which they would choose. The authors then examined what factors (qualitative and quantitative) seem to influence these choices. Respondents were asked about pairs of programs, among them: smoking education or industrial pollution control programs, industrial pollution control or pneumonia vaccine programs, radon eradication or a program to ban smoking in the workplace, and radon eradication or programs to ban pesticides. The survey results, they feel, have implications beyond the United States. They find that, while qualitative aspects of the life-saving programs are statistically significant in explaining people's choices among them, lives saved matter, too. Indeed, for the median respondent in the survey, the rate of substitution between most qualitative risk characteristics and lives saved is inelastic. But for a sizable minority of respondents, choice among programs appears to be insensitive to lives saved. The interesting question for public policy is what role the latter group plays in the regulatory process. This paper - a joint product of the Environment, Infrastructure, and Agriculture Division, Policy Research Department, and the Environment and Natural Resources Division, Asia Technical Department - is part of a larger effort in the Bank to see what can be learned about efficient environmental policy by examining the U.S. experience with environmental regulation. The authors may be contacted at mcropper@@worldbank.org or usubramanian@@worldbank.org.

Public Choices Between Lifesaving Programs how Important are Lives Saved?

Public Choices Between Lifesaving Programs how Important are Lives Saved? PDF Author: Uma Subramanian
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Environmental health
Languages : en
Pages : 78

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abstract: August 1995 - Do funding priorities for health and safety policies reflect irrational fears? the disaster of the month - rather than address more fundamental problems? A thousand people were surveyed to gauge popular feelings about funding choices between environmental and public health programs. In developing and industrial countries alike, there is concern that health and safety policy may respond to irrational fears - to the disaster of the month - rather than address more fundamental problems. In the United States, for example, some policymakers say the public worries about trivial risks while ignoring larger ones and that funding priorities reflect this view. Many public health programs with a low cost per life saved are underfunded, for example, while many environmental regulations with a high cost per life saved are issued each year. Does the existing allocation of resources reflect people's preoccupation with the qualitative aspects of risks, to the exclusion of quantitative factors (lives saved)? Or can observed differences in the cost per life saved of environmental and public health programs be explained by the way the two sets of programs are funded? Cropper and Subramanian examine the preferences of U.S. citizens for health and safety programs. They confronted a random sample of 1,000 U.S. adults with choices between environmental health and public health programs, to see which they would choose. The authors then examined what factors (qualitative and quantitative) seem to influence these choices. Respondents were asked about pairs of programs, among them: smoking education or industrial pollution control programs, industrial pollution control or pneumonia vaccine programs, radon eradication or a program to ban smoking in the workplace, and radon eradication or programs to ban pesticides. The survey results, they feel, have implications beyond the United States. They find that, while qualitative aspects of the life-saving programs are statistically significant in explaining people's choices among them, lives saved matter, too. Indeed, for the median respondent in the survey, the rate of substitution between most qualitative risk characteristics and lives saved is inelastic. But for a sizable minority of respondents, choice among programs appears to be insensitive to lives saved. The interesting question for public policy is what role the latter group plays in the regulatory process. This paper - a joint product of the Environment, Infrastructure, and Agriculture Division, Policy Research Department, and the Environment and Natural Resources Division, Asia Technical Department - is part of a larger effort in the Bank to see what can be learned about efficient environmental policy by examining the U.S. experience with environmental regulation. The authors may be contacted at mcropper@@worldbank.org or usubramanian@@worldbank.org.

The Stated Preference Approach to Environmental Valuation, Volumes I, II and III

The Stated Preference Approach to Environmental Valuation, Volumes I, II and III PDF Author: Richard T. Carson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351881566
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
There is a truly enormous literature on using stated preference information to place a monetary value on environmental amenities. This three volume set provides the key papers for understanding the historical development of contingent valuation, its theoretical and statistical foundations, and the major controversies. It also contains representative papers covering all of the major application areas in environmental valuation.

Measuring and Valuing Health Benefits for Economic Evaluation

Measuring and Valuing Health Benefits for Economic Evaluation PDF Author: John Brazier
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198725922
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
There are not enough resources in health care systems around the world to fund all technically feasible and potentially beneficial health care interventions. Difficult choices have to be made, and economic evaluation offers a systematic and transparent process for informing such choices. A key component of economic evaluation is how to value the benefits of health care in a way that permits comparison between health care interventions, such as through costs per quality-adjusted life years (QALY). Measuring and Valuing Health Benefits for Economic Evaluation examines the measurement and valuation of health benefits, reviews the explosion of theoretical and empirical work in the field, and explores an area of research that continues to be a major source of debate. It addresses the key questions in the field including: the definition of health, the techniques of valuation, who should provide the values, techniques for modelling health state values, the appropriateness of tools in children and vulnerable groups, cross cultural issues, and the problem of choosing the right instrument. This new edition contains updated empirical examples and practical applications, which help to clarify the readers understanding of real world contexts. It features a glossary containing the common terms used by practitioners, and has been updated to cover new measures of health and wellbeing, such as ICECAP, ASCOT and AQOL. It takes into account new research into the social weighting of a QALY, the rising use of ordinal valuation techniques, use of the internet to collect data, and the use of health state utility values in cost effectiveness models. This is an ideal resource for anyone wishing to gain a specialised understanding of health benefit measurement in economic evaluation, especially those working in the fields of health economics, public sector economics, pharmacoeconomics, health services research, public health, and quality of life research.

Quantifying Public Health Risk Reduction Benefits

Quantifying Public Health Risk Reduction Benefits PDF Author: Robert S. Raucher
Publisher: American Water Works Association
ISBN: 1583211926
Category : Cost effectiveness
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
To assist the implementation of benefit-cost analysis, this research report describes issues and techniques related to estimating the human health risk reduction benefits provided by actions that reduce contaminant concentrations in drinking water, and discusses how these benefits should be compared to costs. Material is relevant for evaluating the benefits and costs of federal and state regulatory actions such as setting a Maximum Contaminant Level, instituting treatment requirements, and implementing a guideline or advisory. The report will be of interest to water utility professionals, benefit- cost practitioners, and public policy decision makers. No subject index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

Summary Measures of Population Health

Summary Measures of Population Health PDF Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
ISBN: 9789241545518
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
As life expectancy rates continue to increase in many countries around the world, comparative health assessments based on mortality rates alone give an increasingly inadequate picture of public health. This publication addresses a wide range of key issues regarding the measurement of population health using comprehensive indices which combine data on mortality and ill-health. It considers the various uses of such summary measures, as well as an appropriate measurement framework and specific ethical and social value choices involved. The contributors to this book include leading experts in epidemiological methods, ethics, health economics, health status measurement and the valuation of health states.

Analysis of Private and Social Discount Rates in Costa Rica, An

Analysis of Private and Social Discount Rates in Costa Rica, An PDF Author:
Publisher: IIED
ISBN: 1843692988
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description


Priority Setting Toolkit

Priority Setting Toolkit PDF Author: Craig Mitton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 140514677X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
This work provides a guide to how economics can be used to manage scarcity of resources in health services. It outlines the principles of economics in a non-technical manner, before going on to address the issues of how to apply the principles in day to day health services management.

Pricing the Planet's Future

Pricing the Planet's Future PDF Author: Christian Gollier
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400845408
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Our path of economic development has generated a growing list of environmental problems including the disposal of nuclear waste, exhaustion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, climate change, and polluted land, air, and water. All these environmental problems raise the crucial challenge of determining what we should and should not do for future generations. It is also central to other policy debates, including, for example, the appropriate level of public debt, investment in public infrastructure, investment in education, and the level of funding for pension benefits and for research and development. Today, the judge, the citizen, the politician, and the entrepreneur are concerned with the sustainability of our development. The objective of Pricing the Planet's Future is to provide a simple framework to organize the debate on what we should do for the future. A key element of analysis by economists is the discount rate--the minimum rate of return required from an investment project to make it desirable to implement. Christian Gollier outlines the basic theory of the discount rate and the various arguments that favor using a smaller discount rate for more distant cash flows. With principles that can be applied to many policy areas, Pricing the Planet's Future offers an ideal framework for dynamic problems and decision making.

Rationing and Resource Allocation in Healthcare

Rationing and Resource Allocation in Healthcare PDF Author: Ezekiel Emanuel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190677309
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 569

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Book Description
Budgets of governments and private insurances are limited. Not all drugs and services that appear beneficial to patients or physicians can be covered. Is there a core set of benefits that everyone should be entitled to? If so, how should this set be determined? Are fair decisions just impossible, if we know from the outset than not all needs can be met? While early work in bioethics has focused on clinical issues and a narrow set of principles, in recent years there has been a marked shift towards addressing broader population-level issues, requiring consideration of more demanding theories in philosophy, political science, and economics. At the heart of bioethics' new orientation is the goal of clarity on a complex set of questions in rationing and resource allocation. Rationing and Resource Allocation in Healthcare: Essential Readings provides key excerpts from seminal and pertinent texts and case studies about these topics, contextualized by original introductions. The volume is divided into three broad sections: Conceptual Distinctions and Ethical Theory; Rationing; and Resource Allocation. Containing the most important and classic articles surrounding the theoretical and practical issues related to rationing and how to allocate scare medical resources, this collection aims to assist and inform those who wish to be a part of bioethics' 21st century shift including practitioners and policy-makers, and students and scholars in the health sciences, philosophy, law, and medical ethics.

The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation

The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation PDF Author: David L. Greene
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642590640
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
Modern transportation systems have far-reaching, and serious consequences: deaths and injuries from accidents, pollution of air, water and groundwater, noise congestion, and the greenhouse effect. As world transport systems expand and become increasingly motorised, the transportation community is searching for systems that are both efficient and sustainable. Here, leading international researchers explore the issues and concepts and define the state of knowledge concerning the full costs and benefits of transportation.