Resources Repository
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BookPublication 2018Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society
This book describes how the government came to adopt the value of a statistical life …
This book describes how the government came to adopt the value of a statistical life (VSL) approach for valuing changes in mortality risks and argues that its more widespread use would create a safer and more equitable society. The author estimates these values based on how much more money workers would demand to take on more hazardous jobs; his current estimate is $10 million. The book addresses numerous topics such as whether older people’s lives…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
Working PaperPublication 2018Valuing Nonfatal Health Risk Reductions
This paper explores approaches for valuing nonfatal risk reductions associated with policy choices in low- …
This paper explores approaches for valuing nonfatal risk reductions associated with policy choices in low- and middle-income countries. The approach for valuation ideally would be based on estimates of individuals’ willingness to pay for changes in their own risks. However, high quality valuation research is not available for many nonfatal conditions even in high-income settings. Typically, two approaches are used either alone or in combination as rough proxies. The first involves applying an estimate of…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Priority Setting/Ethics | Health Outcomes | Decision Analysis | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Global | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
Resource PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2018Resource Pack: Model Calibration and Validation
This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, provides broad exposure to …
This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, provides broad exposure to empirical calibration and validation methods for mathematical models used in health decision analysis. Included are a selection of overviews, guidelines, tutorials, and applications. Given the complexity of diseases and variation in data quality, there are invariably a number of parameters that are unobserved or cannot be estimated directly but can be inferred through the process of model calibration. Model calibration…
Calibration/Validation | Dynamic Transmission | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Health/Medicine -
ReportPublication 2017Underestimated Cost of the Opioid Crisis
This report on the opioid public health crisis was released by the White House Council …
This report on the opioid public health crisis was released by the White House Council on Economic Advisors (CEA) in November 2017. It corrects previous estimates of related costs by adding the value of the associated deaths. Earlier estimates focused on medical and other expenditures, while the new report also includes estimates of the value that individuals place on reducing their own risks of premature mortality. The report notes that, in 2015, over 33,000 Americans…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Costing Methods | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReportPublication 2017Economic Value of Informal Mental Health Caring
Caregivers, family and friends play a significant role in supporting people with mental illness, and …
Caregivers, family and friends play a significant role in supporting people with mental illness, and it has long been recognized that informal carers constitute a significant ‘hidden’ workforce in Australia. Faced as Australia is with an ageing population and burgeoning chronic disease, data on the contribution that carers make and the consequent savings to governments and other ‘payers’ need to be articulated. This report attempts to put a ‘value’ on informal caring for those with mental illness.…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Health Systems | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Oceania -
ArticlePublication 2017Valuing Non-Fatal Risks: Monetary and Health-Utility Measures
This article discusses metrics for valuing environmental, health, and safety policies, which should be consistent …
This article discusses metrics for valuing environmental, health, and safety policies, which should be consistent with both the preferences of affected individuals and social preferences for distribution of health risks in the population. Two classes of metrics are widely used: monetary measures (e.g., willingness to pay) and health-utility measures (e.g., quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)). Health-utility measures impose more structure than monetary measures, with the result that individuals’ preferences often appear inconsistent…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2017Likelihood Approach for Calibration of Stochastic Epidemic Models
Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens …
Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens given the importance of chance events when the number of infectious individuals is small. However, methods for parameter estimation and prediction for these types of stochastic models remain limited. This paper describes a calibration and prediction framework for stochastic compartmental transmission models of epidemics. The proposed method applies a linear noise approximation to describe the size of the fluctuations, and…
Calibration/Validation | Dynamic Transmission | Dynamic Simulation | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2016Estimating Benefits of Regulations Affecting Addictive Goods
The question of how to evaluate lost consumer surplus in benefit−cost analyses is controversial. There …
The question of how to evaluate lost consumer surplus in benefit−cost analyses is controversial. There are clear health benefits of regulations that curb consumption of goods with health risks, such as tobacco products and foods high in fats, calories, sugar, and sodium. Yet, if regulations cause consumers to give up goods they like, the health benefits they experience may be offset by some utility loss, which benefit−cost analyses of regulations need to take into account.…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Decision Theory | Mental Health | Health/Medicine -
BookPublication 2015Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes, 4th Edition
The 2015 edition of Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes provides a …
The 2015 edition of Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes provides a 'tool kit' for undertaking health economic evaluations. The report is aimed at researchers, health service professionals and policy makers without a formal economics background. The recommendations are based on the authors' own experiences and so are practical in nature. The book describes the challenges of allocating resources efficiently and fairly, including challenges in methodology and policy formation. Examples are provided.…
Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Evidence Synthesis | Value of Information | Mathematical Models | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America | Europe