Individuals' Rates of Time Preference for Life-Saving Programs in Developing Countries: Results from a Multi-Country Study

Christine Poulos () and Dale Whittington
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Christine Poulos: Departments of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Public Policy, and City & Regional Planning, University of North Carolina

No sp199901t2, EEPSEA Special and Technical Paper from Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA)

Abstract: Individuals' time preferences for mortality reductions are measured in six Less Developed Countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia using the contingent valuation method. The results indicate that individuals' discount factors are much lower than those estimated for a United States sample. Also, respondents' intertemporal preferences for saving lives are characterized by a nonexponential discount function. We conclude that the discounting practices currently used in standard economic analyses of development projects are probably poor representations of individuals' actual intertemporal preferences.

Keywords: Time; preference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-01, Revised 1999-01
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