Urban Environmental Health and Sensitive Populations: How Much are the Italians Willing to Pay to Reduce Their Risks?

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Abstract:We use contingent valuation to elicit WTP for a reduction in the risk of dying for cardiovascular and respiratory causes, the most important causes of premature mortality associated with heat wave and air pollution, among the Italian public. The purpose of this study is three-fold. First, we obtain WTP and VSL figures that can be applied when estimating the benefits of heat advisories, other policies that reduce the mortality effects of extreme heat, and environmental policies that reduce the risk of dying for cardiovascular and respiratory causes. Second, our experimental study design allows us to examine the sensitivity of WTP to the size of the risk reduction. Third, we examine whether the WTP of populations that are especially sensitive to extreme heat and air pollution-such as the elderly, those in compromised health, and those living alone and/or physically impaired-is different from that of other individuals. We find that WTP, and hence the VSL, depends on the risk reduction, respondent age and health status. WTP increases with the size of the risk reduction, but is not strictly proportional to it. All else the same, older individuals are willing to pay less for a given risk reduction than younger individuals of comparable characteristics. Poor health tends to raise WTP, all else the same. Our results support the notion that the VSL is "individuated." JEL Classification: Q51, Q54.

Discount Rates in Risk v. Money and Money v. Money Tradeoffs

“…WTP increases with the size of the risk reduction, but in a less than proportional fashion, since the relevant coefficient is 0.56, which is significantly less than one. This finding is consistent with earlier studies, and with our own earlier analysis of the WTP for the immediate risk reduction from this study (Alberini and Chiabai, 2005). The discount rate is pegged at about 2%, which is reasonable and well within the range of estimates from earlier studies.…”

Trading off dietary choices, physical exercise and cardiovascular disease risks

“…Following a tutorial developed by Alberini et al (2004) and Alberini & Chiabai (2007) to assess the WTP for reducing mortality risk for cardiovascular and respiratory causes, the concept of probability is taught at first with simple examples and then, by increasing the degree of complexity and abstraction.…”

Impacts of Europe's changing climate – 2008 indicator based assessment

“…agree that projections of cold-related deaths, and the potential for decreasing their numbers due to warmer winters, can be overestimated unless they take into account the effects of better housing, influenza vaccination and season (Armstrong et al, 2004). Alberini and Chiabai (2005) Data on adaptation costs, such as those related to surveillance and outbreak control, are starting to emerge, and adaptation strategies that can be implemented by health sectors (cCASHh project) are most likely to be built on well-established public health approaches, though further work is needed to fully assess the costs. Most adaptation measures appear to be low cost (e.g.…”