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Workshop: Valuing Environmental Health Risk Reductions to Children (2003)

Paper Number: EE-0475

Document Date: 10/21/2003

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

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Human Health Valuation, Children's Health Valuation

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Human Health Valuation, Children's Health Valuation

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.

This two-day workshop was co-sponsored by EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics, Office of Children's Health Protection, and National Center for Environmental Research as well as the University of Central Florida. Investigators presented research results relating to the valuation of protecting children from environmental harm. The workshop also featured discussion of the related issues the value of infant health, the use of economic experiments to examine the transition from child to economically rational adult, and household decision-making models. The workshop featured a luncheon address by Bill Harbaugh and commissioned presentations by Ted Bergstrom and Don Kenkel. EPA's Acting Administrator, Marianne Horinko provided opening remarks.

Introduction

Remarks of Marianne L. Horinko Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Session I: The Status of Children

  • Changes in the Lives of U.S. Children: 1990-2000,  Kristin Smith, U.S. Census Bureau
  • America’s Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens, and Illnesses,  Dan Axelrad, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
  • The National Children’s Study, Peter Scheidt, NIH, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Environmental Health Valuation for Children: Research in Europe Nick Johnstone, Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development
  • NOTE: Although Mr. Johnstone was unable to deliver this scheduled presentation at the workshop, we are including his slide files in the proceedings.
  • Summary of Q&A Discussion Following Session I

Session II: Household Decision Making

  • Commissioned Paper: Benefit Cost Analysis and the Entanglements of Love,  Ted Bergstrom, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Weak Substitution, Environmental Vulnerability, and Choice,  Mary Evans, University of Tennessee
  • Abstract of Preliminary Research on Family Decision Making and the Value of Preventing Childhood Development Impairment,  Sandra Hoffman, Resources for the Future
  • Discussant,  Robin Jenkins, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
  • Discussant,  Mark Agee, Pennsylvania State University
  • Summary of Q&A Discussion Following Session II

Session III: Valuing Fetal and Infant Health Effects

  • Preliminary Research: Combining Psychological Economic Methods To Improve Understanding of Factors Determining Adults’ Valuation of Children’s Health, Cheryl Asmus, Colorado State University
  • Pregnant Mother’s Valuation of Own and of Child Health, Thomas Crocker, University of Wyoming
  • Commissioned Paper: Valuing Fetal and Infant Health: What Can Be Learned From Empirical Health Economics Literature?, Don Kenkel, Cornell University
  • Discussant Trish Hall, U.S. EPA, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
  • NOTE: Dr. V. Kerry Smith of North Carolina State University also presented discussant comments, but his remarks are not included in these proceedings.
  • Summary of Q&A Discussion Following Session III

Session IV-AM: Age-Specific Value of Statistical Life Estimates

  • Preliminary Research: Valuation of Cancer Risks in Children and Adults in Minnesota,  Chris Dockins, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE)
  • The Effects of Age and Family Status on the Value of a Statistical Life: Evidence From the Automobile Market,  William Schulze, Cornell University
  • Willingness To Pay for Reduced Risk: Inferences From the Demand for Bicycle Helmets, Nicole Owens and Lanelle Wiggins, U.S. EPA, NCEE
  • Discussant,  Kelly Maguire, U.S. EPA, NCEE
  • Summary of Q&A Discussion Following Session IV-AM

Session IV-PM: Age-Specific Value of Statistical Life Estimates (Cont’d)

  • Not All Deaths Are Created Equally: Understanding Individual Preferences for Reductions in Morbidity-Mortality Events,  Trudy Cameron, University of Oregon, and J.R. DeShazo, UCLA
  • Valuation of Environmental Risks to Children’s Health, Mark Dickie and Shelby Gerking, University of Central Florida
  • Discussant, Glenn Harrison, University of Central Florida
  • Summary of Q&A Discussion Following Session IV-PM

Session V: Air Pollution and Asthma in Children

  • Valuing Reduced Asthma Morbidity in Children,  W. Michael Hanemann, University of California, Berkeley, and Sylvia Brandt, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • Behavioral Reactions to Ozone Alerts: What Do They Tell Us About Willingness To Pay for Children’s Health?, F. Reed Johnson, Research Triangle Institute
  • A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Asthma and Air Pollution, Charles Griffiths, Nathalie Simon, and Tracey Woodruff, U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics. Presented by: Charles Griffiths
  • Discussant, Bryan Hubbell, U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards
  • Discussant, Laurie Chestnut, Stratus Consulting
  • Summary of Q&A Discussion Following Session V
  • Closing Remarks, Mark Dickie, University of Central Florida

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

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  • Valuing Environmental Health Risk Reductions to Children (PDF)(548 pp, 4 MB, 10/21/2003, EE-0475)
    This two-day workshop was co-sponsored by EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics, Office of Children's Health Protection, and National Center for Environmental Research as well as the University of Central Florida. Investigators presented research results relating to the valuation of protecting children from environmental harm. The workshop also featured discussion of the related issues the value of infant health, the use of economic experiments to examine valuation issues.