Valuing changes in health and longevity poses many difficult challenges. To encourage innovative new research, CHDS’s James Hammitt, Lisa Robinson, and Michael Eber participated in a workshop at Université Paris Dauphine, which brought together senior researchers and young scholars to discuss related issues. The event, “Workshop on Mortality and Morbidity Risk Valuation – Advances and Remaining Challenges,” was led by Daniel Herrera-Araujo (Université Paris Dauphine), a previous visiting scholar and frequent Hammitt collaborator. Other members of the organizing team were Susan Chilton (Newcastle University), Rebecca McDonald (University of Birmingham), and Morgan Beeson (Newcastle University).
The presentations covered recent and ongoing work from both established and early career researchers that addresses health preference elicitation and monetary valuation of improved health. Topics considered included estimating the value per statistical life (VSL), the value per statistical life year (VSLY), and the value per nonfatal statistical case, as well as estimating changes in health-related quality of life and the value per quality-adjusted life year (QALY).
As part of this workshop, Hammitt presented “Fair Innings: An Empirical Test,” exploring how society evaluates mortality risk reductions that accrue to people of different ages. Eber presented “Numeracy and Stated Preference Valuation,” which considers whether the insensitivity of willingness to pay to the quantity of the good being valued reflects cognitive limitations of survey respondents or true preferences. Robinson led a roundtable on “Valuing Risk Reductions and Climate Change,” that addressed the impacts of climate change on health and associated valuation issues. As a member of the panel, Hammitt discussed challenges related to addressing uncertainty and aggregating impacts across individuals.
Given the importance of these issues and the need for innovative research, the organizers hope to repeat this workshop in future years to continue to move the field forward.
Learn more: Read Consistent Valuation of a Reduction in Mortality Risk Using Values Per Life, Life Year, and Quality-Adjusted Life Year
Learn more: Read Fair Innings? The Utilitarian and Prioritarian Value of Risk Reduction over a Whole Lifetime
Learn more: Attend Benefit-Cost Analysis: Valuing Life and Health
Learn more: Browse Resource Pack: Valuing Health and Longevity in BCA
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