Paper Number: EE-0497

Document Date: 09/07/2006

Author(s):  Alpha-Gamma Technologies, Inc.

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Human Health Valuation, Mortality Risk Valuation, Morbidity Risk Valuation

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Human Health Valuation, Mortality Risk Valuation, Morbidity Risk Valuation, Internet Panel Surveys

Summary: 

The purpose of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series is to hold in-depth workshops on timely topics that will further the use of economics as a tool for environmental decision making. Both NSF/EPA grant recipients and researchers (from EPA, fellow Federal agencies, academia, and others) will be invited to attend and discuss their on-going research. Topics will be chosen based on relevance to current EPA issues and, more broadly, to issues of concern to the environmental economics community. These topics include exploration of innovations in economic research methods as well as how research will further environmental policy making and future environmental economic studies.

EPA's National Centers for Environmental Economics and Environmental Research held a two-day workshop Morbidity and Mortality: How Do We Value the Risk of Illness and Death? This workshop, held on April 10-12, 2006 in Washington, DC, highlighted research results from EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants. Topics included risk assessment and valuation of health effects from air pollution, issues with morbidity valuation, a panel discussion on the use of the Internet in valuation surveys, valuation of effects from pesticides and toxics and drinking water, and empirical issues associated with mortality risk valuation.

Introductory Remarks

William H. Farland, Chief Scientist, Office of the Science Advisor, and Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science, Office of Research and Development, U.S. EPA

Session I: Risk Assessment and Valuation of Health Effects From Air Pollution

• Willingness To Pay for Improved Health: A Comparison of Stated and Revealed Preferences Models, Michael Hanemann, University of California–Berkeley, and Sylvia Brandt, University of Massachusetts–Amherst
• Individual Preferences and Household Choices: The Potential Role of Dependency Relationships, Mary F. Evans, University of Tennessee–Knoxville; Christine Poulos, Research Triangle Institute; and V. Kerry Smith, North Carolina State University
• Preliminary Results From a Daily, Time-Series Study of Air Pollution and Asthma in the San Francisco Bay Area, Charles Griffiths and Nathalie Simon, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Discussant: Bryan Hubbell, U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards
• Discussant: Glenn Blomquist, University of Kentucky
• Questions and Discussion

Keynote Address

• Introduction by: Al McGartland, Director, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Brian Mannix, Associate Administrator, U.S. EPA, Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation

Session II: Issues with Morbidity Valuation

• IOM and Cost Effectiveness, Nathalie Simon, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Altruism and Environmental Risks to Health of Parents and Their Children, Mark Dickie and Shelby Gerking, University of Central Florida
• Is an Ounce of Prevention Worth a Pound of Cure?, Ryan Bosworth and Trudy Cameron, University of Oregon; and J.R. DeShazo, University of California–Los Angeles. Presented by: J.R. DeShazo.
• Discussant: Kelly Maguire, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Discussant: Kevin Boyle, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
• Questions and Discussion

Session III: Panel Discussion on the Use of the Internet in Valuation Surveys

• Nathalie Simon, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• J.R. DeShazo, University of California–Los Angeles
• Shelby Gerking, University of Central Florida
• Alan Krupnick, Resources for the Future
• Jon Krosnick, Stanford University
• Brian Harris-Kojetin, Office of Management and Budget
• Questions and Discussion

Session IV: Valuing Morbidity and Mortality: Pesticides and Toxics

• ORD Activities With the National Children’s Study and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Montira Pongsiri, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Research
• Use of Contingent Valuation to Elicit Willingness-to-Pay for the Benefits of Developmental Health Risk Reductions, James K. Hammitt and Katherine Von Stackelberg, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard University
• Parental Decision Making About Children’s Health, Alan Krupnick and Sandra Hoffmann, Resources for the Future; Victor Adamowicz, University of Alberta; and Ann Bostrom, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Value of Reducing Children’s Mortality Risk: Effects of Latency and Disease Type, James Hammitt and Kevin Haninger, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard University
• Discussant: Lanelle Wiggins, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Discussant: F. Reed Johnson, Research Triangle Institute
• Questions and Discussion

Session V: Empirical Issues Associated With Mortality Risk Valuation

• Update on Mortality Risk Valuation at EPA, Kelly Maguire, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Eliciting Risk Tradeoffs for Valuing Fatal Cancer Risks, Chris Dockins, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics; George Van Houtven, Research Triangle Institute; and Melonie Sullivan, Institute for Family Centered Services
• Update on Mortality Risk Valuation at EPA, Kelly Maguire, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Eliciting Risk Tradeoffs for Valuing Fatal Cancer Risks, Chris Dockins, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics; George Van Houtven, Research Triangle Institute; and Melonie Sullivan, Institute for Family Centered Services
• Questions and Discussion

Session VI: Valuing Morbidity and Mortality: Drinking Water

• Combining Psychological and Economic Methods To Improve Understanding of Factors Determining Adults’ Valuation of Children’s Health, Cheryl Asmus, Paul Bell, John Loomis, Byron Allen, and Helen Zita Cooney, Colorado State University
• Economic Valuation of Avoiding Exposure to Arsenic in Drinking Water, Kathleen Bell, University of Maine, and Kevin Boyle, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
• Perceived Mortality Risks and Arsenic in Drinking Water:Preliminary Research, Douglass Shaw, Texas A&M University; Paul Jakus, Utah State University; Klaus Moeltner and Mark Walker, University of Nevada–Reno; and Mary Riddel, University of Nevada–Las Vegas
• Willingness To Pay To Reduce Community Health Risks from Municipal Drinking Water: A Stated Preference Study, Alan Krupnick, Resources for the Future; Vic Adamowicz, University of Alberta; and Diane Dupont, Brock University
• Discussant: Trish Hall, U.S. EPA, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
• Discussant: Greg Poe, Cornell University
• Questions and Discussion

This workshop is part of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series.

• Morbidity and Mortality: How Do We Value the Risk of Death and Illness? (PDF)(537 pp, 4 MB, 09/07/2006, EE-0497)
  EPA's National Centers for Environmental Economics and Environmental Research held a two-day workshop Morbidity and Mortality:How Do We Value the Risk of Illness and Death? This workshop, held on April 10-12, 2006 in Washington, DC, highlighted research results from EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants. Topics included risk assessment and valuation of health effects from air pollution, issues with morbidity valuation, a panel discussion on the use of the Internet in valuation surveys