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on Health Economics |
| By: | Denise L. Mauzerall; Babar Sultan; Namsoug Kim; David Bradford |
| Abstract: | We present a proof-of-concept analysis of the measurement of the health damage of ozone (O3) produced from nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) emitted by individual large point sources in the eastern United States. We use a regional atmospheric model of the eastern United States, the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with eXtensions (CAMx), to quantify the variable impact that a fixed quantity of NOx emitted from individual sources can have on the downwind concentration of surface O3, depending on temperature and local biogenic hydrocarbon emissions. We also examine the dependence of resulting ozone-related health damages on the size of the exposed population. The investigation is relevant to the increasingly widely used "cap and trade" approach to NOx regulation, which presumes that shifts of emissions over time and space, holding the total fixed over the course of the summer O3 season, will have minimal effect on the environmental outcome. By contrast, we show that a shift of a unit of NOx emissions from one place or time to another could result in large changes in resulting health effects due to ozone formation and exposure. We indicate how the type of modeling carried out here might be used to attach externality-correcting prices to emissions. Charging emitters fees that are commensurate with the damage caused by their NOx emissions would create an incentive for emitters to reduce emissions at times and in locations where they cause the largest damage. |
| Keywords: | surface ozone, NOx emissions, point sources, health impacts, mortality, morbidity, cap-and-trade |
| JEL: | H10 Q50 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1442&r=hea |
| By: | Mahmud, Minhaj (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Using the contingent valuation method in developing countries to value mortality risk reduction is particularly challenging because of the low level of education of the respondents. In this paper, we examine the effect of training the respondents regarding probabilities and risk reductions, in addition to using visual aids to communicate risk and risk reductions, in a contingent valuation survey. Our results indicate a significantly higher WTP for the trained sub-sample, and WTP is sensitive to the magnitude of risk reduction both with and without the training. <p> |
| Keywords: | contingent valuation; risk reduction; WTP; effect of training; sensitivity to scope; Bangladesh |
| JEL: | D60 D80 H40 I10 |
| Date: | 2005–04–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0169&r=hea |
| By: | Martin Wall |
| Abstract: | This report assesses the evidence on the extent and prospects of an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the impact this will have on the economies of those countries. The main focus of the report is the Russian Federation. The economic and demographic context against which the epidemic is developing is first discussed. All of the states of the FSU have suffered unprecedented falls in employment and output and a collapse in many of the state institutions that might determine or implement public health policy. Russia in particular is suffering from falling life expectancy and general declines in health that are untypical for countries with high HIV prevalence. The epidemic is still largely confined to high-risk groups such as Intravenous Drug users (IDUs) in Russia and the Ukraine. Infectivity is high in such groups and concentration of HIV among IDUs is one of the reasons the disease is spreading so rapidly. There is evidence of high recruitment and casual drug use suggesting the lines between IDUs, Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs) and the general population are more blurred than in a western country. The epidemics in the other former Soviet republics are less developed than in Russia but they exhibit many of the same risk factors and the trade and migratory links between them and Russia suggest they will suffer epidemics of similar magnitude. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS, former Soviet Union (FSU), Russian Federation |
| Date: | 2003–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:odi:wpaper:1&r=hea |