Valuing reductions in environmental risks to children’s health

This article reviews the economics literature dealing with valuation of reduced environmental risks to children’s health. We describe conceptual models together with results from a number of empirical studies. The conceptual models analyze valuation issues from the perspective of parents; treat health risk as endogenously determined; and demonstrate that in equilibrium, marginal willingness to pay to reduce risk for the child relative to marginal willingness to pay to reduce risk for the parent should equal the ratio of marginal risk reduction costs. Empirical studies treat both mortality and morbidity associated with exposure to environmental health risks. These studies generally find that parents are willing to pay more for absolute risk reductions for their children than they are willing to pay for corresponding risk reductions for themselves. Possible reasons for this outcome along with suggestions for further research are discussed.