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INTRA-URBAN MORTALITY AND AIR QUALITY: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS OF POLLUTION INDUCED MORTALITY
Citation:
Gregor, J. INTRA-URBAN MORTALITY AND AIR QUALITY: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS OF POLLUTION INDUCED MORTALITY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/5-77/009 (NTIS PB273056), 1977.
Description:
The report has attempted to quantify in both physical and monetary terms the effects of existing ambient levels of air pollution on human mortality. A model for the isolation of air pollution's influence on human mortality was developed based on insights derived from existing experimental, episodic, and epidemiological studies. This model was then estimated using weighted linear regression analysis and data from the 1968-1972 experience of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The resulting pollution-related mortality functions were then monetized through the use of the most theoretically consistent economic valuation of mortality changes. Specifically, the estimated age-sex-specific pollution-related mortality functions were monetized by applying existing estimates of individual's willingness to pay for mortality decreases. The results of this study lend support to the contention that an improvement in ambient air quality will produce social benefits in the form of decreased probabilities of death.