Valuation of small and multiple health risks: A critical analysis of SP data applied to food and water safety

Henrik Andersson, Arne Hole and Mikael Svensson

No 11, Karlstad University Working Papers in Economics from Karlstad University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study elicits individual preferences for reducing morbidity and mortality risk in the context of an infectious disease (campylobacter) using choice experiments. Respondents are in the survey asked to choose between different policies that, in addition to the two health risks, also vary with respect to source of disease being targeted (food or water), when the policy takes place (in time), and the monetary cost. Our results in our baseline model are in line with expectations; respondents prefer the benefits of the program sooner than later, programs that reduce both the mortality and morbidity risk, and less costly programs. Moreover, our results suggest that respondents prefer water- compared with food-safety programs. However, a main objective of this study is to examine scope sensitivity of mortality risk reductions using a novel approach. Our results from a split-sample design suggest that the value of the mortality risk reduction, defined as the value of a statistical life, is SEK 3 177 (USD 483 million) and SEK 50 million (USD 8 million), respectively, in our two sub-samples. This result cast doubt on the standard scope sensitivity tests in choice experiments, and the results also cast doubt on the validity and reliability of VSL estimates based on stated preference (and revealed preference) studies in general. This is important due to the large empirical literature on non-market evaluation and the elicited values’ central role in policy making, such as benefit-cost analysis.

Keywords: Choice experiments; Morbidity risk; Mortality risk; Scope sensitivity; Willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D61 H41 I18 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2014-02-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm, nep-hea, nep-rmg and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.kau.se/sites/default/files/Dokument/sub ... 014_11_pdf_21035.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://www.kau.se/sites/default/files/Dokument/subpage/2012/02/2014_11_pdf_21035.pdf [302 Found]--> https://www.kau.se/sites/default/files/Dokument/subpage/2012/02/2014_11_pdf_21035.pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Valuation of small and multiple health risks: A critical analysis of SP data applied to food and water safety (2016)
Working Paper: Valuation of Small and Multiple Health Risks: A Critical Analysis of SP Data Applied to Food and Water Safety (2014)
Working Paper: Valuation of small and multiple health risks: A critical analysis of SP data applied to food and water safety (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:kaunek:0011

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Karlstad University Working Papers in Economics from Karlstad University, Department of Economics Dept of Economics, Karlstad University, Universitetsgatan 1, SE 651 88 Karlstad, Sweden. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Niklas Jakobsson ().