Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2010Valuing Environment-Related Health Risks for Children
This report is the final output of the OECD Valuation of Environment-Related Health Impacts (VERHI) …
This report is the final output of the OECD Valuation of Environment-Related Health Impacts (VERHI) project and presents new research findings. The authors estimate a value per statistical life (VSL) for children and adults based on surveys conducted in the Czech Republic, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2002QALYs versus WTP
This article discusses quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP), which are …
This article discusses quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP), which are alternative measures of the value of reductions in health risks. Although both methods are based on individual preferences, the underlying assumptions differ. The different bases yield systematically different conclusions about the relative value of reducing health and mortality risks to individuals who differ in age, preexisting health conditions, income, and other factors. The choice of which method to use depends…
Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2008Adjusting VSL for Age
This article addresses the theoretical ambiguity in the effect of age on the value of …
This article addresses the theoretical ambiguity in the effect of age on the value of statistical life (VSL) using a novel, age-dependent fatal risk measure to estimate age-specific hedonic wage regressions. VSL exhibits an inverted-U-shaped relationship with age. In the year 2000 cross section, workers' VSL rises from $3.7 million (ages 18–24) to $9.7 million (ages 35–44) and declines to $3.4 million (ages 55–62). Controlling for birth-year cohort effects yields a peak VSL of $7.8…
Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2007Decision Analysis: A Personal Account of How It Got Started and Evolved
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement …
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement in its development. He describes the early days of Operations Research (OR) in the late 1940s with its approach to complex, strategic decision making. After reading John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1947) and Abraham Wald’s two books (1947, 1950), he became involved in statistical decision theory. A few years later, after reading Leonard…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Decision Theory | Probability/Bayes | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering -
GuidelinesPublication 2007Preference Measurement in Economic Analysis
This guide includes an overview of the concepts of preference measurement and quality-adjusted life years, …
This guide includes an overview of the concepts of preference measurement and quality-adjusted life years, a description of the most common techniques used for measuring preferences in economic evaluation, a summary of experience measuring preferences in the VA Cooperative Studies Program.
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Health Outcomes | North America -
ArticlePublication 2007Mortality-Risk Valuation and Age
This article addresses whether a single value of statistical life (VSL) should be applied to …
This article addresses whether a single value of statistical life (VSL) should be applied to all age groups or whether lower values should be used for the elderly, recognizing that their life expectancies are shorter than those of younger people. Surveys of different age groups' willingness to pay (WTP) for mortality-risk reductions can potentially help resolve this issue. The 36 studies reviewed suggest that the literature is split on whether older people have a lower WTP…
Preferences/Values | Climate/Environment | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ReviewPublication 2006Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation, Research, and New Product Development
Ethical dilemmas arising in setting priorities among interventions and among individuals in need of care …
Ethical dilemmas arising in setting priorities among interventions and among individuals in need of care are most acute when needs are great and resources few. This chapter from the Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries 2nd edition addresses some of these concerns, identifying some of the principal ethical issues that arise in the development and allocation of effective interventions for developing countries and discussing some alternative resolutions. Resource allocation in health and elsewhere should satisfy two main…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Culture/Society | Government/Law | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2000Preference-Based Measures in Economic Evaluation in Health Care
Estimating preferences for states of health has been an active area of research in recent …
Estimating preferences for states of health has been an active area of research in recent years. Unlike psychophysical approaches, which discriminate levels of health status, preference-based approaches incorporate values or utilities for health outcomes and can be used in cost-effectiveness analyses to aid resource allocation decisions. This chapter considers issues and controversies involved in using preference-based measures in economic evaluation in health care, with a particular emphasis on cost-utility analysis and the estimation of quality-adjusted…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | North America | Europe -
ReviewPublication 1982Decision Analysis: An Overview
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can …
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can and cannot do, why one should care to do this, and how one does it. Keeney describes decision analysis as "a formalization of common sense for decision problems which are too complex for informal use of common sense." He provides a more technical definition also, describing decision analysis as "a philosophy, articulated by a set of logical axioms, and a methodology…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Military/Defense | Science/Technology