Risk, Economics, and Decisions Special Issue – Center for Health Decision Science

Integrating risk assessment, economic evaluation, and uncertainty to inform policy decisions is a core challenge for decision scientists. Professor John S. Evans is a pioneer in tackling this challenge. A recent special issue of Risk Analysis, “Risk Assessment, Economic Evaluation, and Decisions,” honors Dr. Evans. It builds on his important and innovative work and further explores the links between risk assessment and economics. The starting point was a September 2019 workshop organized by CHDS faculty James K. Hammitt and Lisa A. Robinson, with support from the Society for Risk Analysis Economics and Benefits Analysis Specialty Group and several other individuals and organizations (listed on the workshop website). The special issue, guest edited by Lisa A. Robinson, features a profile of Dr. Evans and nine articles. These include two articles co-authored by CHDS faculty, “Estimating the Potential Health Benefits of Air Quality Warnings” and “Mortality Benefits and Control Costs of Improving Air Quality in Mexico City: The Case of Heavy Duty Diesel Vehicles.” Another article presented at the workshop, “Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life Lost: Identification, Quantification, and Valuation of Mortality Risks,” was published in an earlier issue.

Links to the articles published in the special issue and to others presented at the workshop are provided on the workshop agenda.