Home
Tags
No Tags
The economic value of air-pollution-related health risks in China
| Title: | The economic value of air-pollution-related health risks in China |
| Author: | Guo, Xiaoqi |
| Description: | This dissertation studies the economic valuation of air-pollution-related health risks in China, by applying two different valuation methods: the compensating wage differential method and the contingent valuation method. By using the compensating wage differential (CWD) method, the tradeoff between workers’ wage and the on-the-job fatality risk workers bear in the labor market is estimated, with consideration of the market opportunities faced by workers in different regions. The result shows that a positive compensating wage differential for on-the-job fatality risk exists in China; and this wage differential convexly decreases with the local unemployment rate. The value of a statistical life (VSL) computed from the estimate varies from US$12,000 to US$120,000. By using the contingent valuation (CV) method, an individual interview survey is conducted to elicit resident’s willingness-to-pay (WTP) for health risk reductions of asthma and mortality. The questionnaire is designed to test the hypothesis that the private provision and the public/government provision mechanisms of the health risk reductions have no significantly different effect to people’s WTP. The results of binary probit regressions show that the public/government provision mechanism has no significant effect to people’s WTP for the asthma risk reduction, whereas it has a significantly negative effect to the WTP for the mortality risk reduction. Within-group analysis shows that perceived effectiveness and trust are the major reasons of the stated preference of respondents on the provision mechanisms. The scope/scale effects of WTP to the magnitude of risk reduction and to the description of the severity of disease symptoms are also tested. The estimated median value of a statistical case of asthma from the CV study is about US$2400, while the median VSL estimated is about US$24,000. Possible reasons of the discrepancy between the VSL generated by the CWD and CV methods are discussed. Comparing these results to the results of other studies, I suggest the interval of US$20,000 to US$60,000 as the VSL for researchers and policy makers. This dissertation brings international experience and understanding to the undeveloped field of environmental health valuation in China; and ultimately it would strengthen the scientific basis of environmental decision-making in China. |
| Permanent Link: |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1155652414
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/8162 |
| Date: | 2006 |
Files in this item
| Files | Size | Format | View |
|---|---|---|---|
|
There are no files associated with this item. |
|||