For Shorter or Poorer: Attitudes Toward the Trade-Off between Poverty and Morality

Benoit Decerf (), Oliver Sterck () and Christopher Hoy ()
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Benoit Decerf: University of Namur, https://www.unamur.be/en/newsroom/benoit-decerf-expert-committed-poverty-analysis-unamur
Oliver Sterck: University of Antwerp, https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/olivier-sterck_24954/research/
Christopher Hoy: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/1123396-christopher-hoy

Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series from Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne

Abstract: Many policy decisions involve trade-offs between lives and livelihoods. We provide the first estimates for a new welfare parameter that expresses this trade-off in the longevity-poverty space. To do so, we conduct randomized survey experiments with 20,000 respondents across seven middle- and high-income countries. Both the median and mean responses imply that individuals are willing to spend no more than about two years in poverty to gain one additional year of life, sharply restricting the plausible range for this normative parameter. We show how these estimates can inform policy trade-offs related to long-run global development, pandemic responses, and climate change.

Keywords: Poverty; Mortality; Welfare; Preferences; Survey Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I12 I15 I32 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 145pp
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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