Altruism, Fertility, and the Value of Children: Health Policy Evaluation and Intergenerational Welfare

Javier Birchenall and Rodrigo Soares

No 12836, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper accounts for the value of children and future generations in the evaluation of health policies. This is achieved through the incorporation of altruism and fertility in "value of life" type of framework. We are able to express adults' willingness to pay for changes in child mortality and also to incorporate the welfare of future generations in the evaluation of current policies. Our model clarifies a series of puzzles from the literature on the "value of life" and on intergenerational welfare comparisons. We show that, by incorporating altruism and fertility into the analysis, the estimated welfare gain from recent reductions in mortality in the U.S. easily doubles.

JEL-codes: I10 J13 J17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Note: EH
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Published as Birchenall, Javier A. & Soares, Rodrigo R., 2009. "Altruism, fertility, and the value of children: Health policy evaluation and intergenerational welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 280-295, February.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Altruism, fertility, and the value of children: Health policy evaluation and intergenerational welfare (2009)
Working Paper: Altruism, Fertility, and the Value of Children: Health Policy Evaluation and Intergenerational Welfare (2007)
Working Paper: Altruism, Fertility, and the Value of Children: Health Policy Evaluation and Intergenerational Welfare* (2007)
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