Paper Number: EE-0474

Document Date: 10/01/2003

Author(s): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis, Benefits Valuation, Human Health, Children's Health, Stated Preference Surveys, Revealed Preferences, Contingent Valuation, Cost of Illness

Keywords:  Economic Analysis, Benefits Valuation, Human Health, Children's Health, Stated Preference Surveys, Revealed Preferences, Contingent Valuation, Cost of Illness

Abstract: 

The report is a companion document to EPA's Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses (2000). It is a reference tool for analysts conducting economic analyses of EPA policies when those policies are expected to affect risks to children's health. Because the state of knowledge surrounding the valuation of children's health is still in it's infancy, this document is designed to be more informative than prescriptive.

The Handbook presents and discusses issues that may not be satisfactorily addressed by the current state of knowledge. Discussion of these issues should improve economic analyses of children's health effects by alerting analysts to unresolved areas and by identifying areas for future research. In this way, the Handbook will serve as a description of EPA's needs for valuing children's health effects and will encourage research among EPA and non-EPA economists as well as other experts.

Key Topics and Features:　

• Describes three alternative perspectives to a child-determined value of reducing child health risks;
• Provides information on the valuation of children's health effects by discussing if, when, and how values for children may differ from values for adults for the same effects;
• Gives guidance on qualitatively describing the likely over- or under-valuation of reduced child risk resulting from the transfer of risk values estimated for adults to children;
• Provides a description of the best way to value risk experienced by children, recognizing that direct estimates of these values are not yet available;
• Discusses how economic methods used to estimate values for adult health effects can be applied to value children's health effects;
• Provides instructions on when and how to transfer value estimates derived for adults to scenarios involving children, as a second best alternative to actual child values.

Report available at EPA's National Service Center for Environmental Publications.

This paper is part of the  Environmental Economics Research Inventory.

• Children's Health Valuation Handbook (2003) (PDF)(100 pp, 1 MB, 10/01/2003, EE-0474, EPA-100-R-03-003)
  The report is a companion document to EPA's Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses (2000). It is a reference tool for analysts conducting economic analyses of EPA policies when those policies are expected to affect risks to children's health. Because the state of knowledge surrounding the valuation of children's health is still in it's infancy, this document is designed to be more informative than prescriptive.