Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/176020 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Texto para discussão No. 537
Publisher: 
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Departamento de Economia, Rio de Janeiro
Abstract: 
This paper accounts for the value of children and future generations in the evaluation of health policies. This is achieved through the incorporation of altruism and fertility in a “value of life” type of framework. We are able to express adults’ willingness to pay for changes in child mortality and also to incorporate the welfare of future generations in the evaluation of current policies. Our model clarifies a series of puzzles from the literature on the “value of life” and on intergenerational welfare comparisons. We show that, by incorporating altruism and fertility into the analysis, the estimated welfare gain from recent reductions in mortality in the U.S. easily doubles.
Subjects: 
value of life
mortality
fertility
altruism
intergenerational welfare
willingness to pay
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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