Working Paper: Existing Literature and Recommended Strategies for Valuation of Children's Health Effects
Paper Number: 2002-07
Document Date: 09/2002
Author(s): James Neumann and Harriet Greenwood
Subject Area(s): Benefit-Cost Analysis; Valuation; Children’s Health
Keywords: children; valuation; benefit transfer; health effects
Abstract: This paper focuses on the availability and use of existing literature for the valuation of children's health effects. Because the emphasis on children's health is relatively new, available studies focus on a small subset of health effects and the economic data available are very limited. This paper first presents an overview of methodologies used in the existing literature and provides an overall structure for discussing major classes of children's health effects. We then classify the available literature by health effect category, discuss the literature and suggest strategies for the use of valuation and other information in benefits and policy analyses. Our overall conclusion is that analysts need to interpret the existing child-focused studies with care.
This paper is part of the Environmental Economics Working Paper Series.