Grantee Research Project Results
1997 Progress Report: Valuing Reductions in Environmental Sources of Infertility Risk Using the Efficient Household Framework
EPA Grant Number: R825308Title: Valuing Reductions in Environmental Sources of Infertility Risk Using the Efficient Household Framework
Investigators: Van Houtven, George L. , Smith, V. Kerry
Institution: Desert Research Institute , Duke University
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997
Project Amount: $170,971
RFA: Decision-Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy (1996) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice
Objective:
There is an increasing body evidence suggesting that a broad range of pollutants have the potential to alter human endocrine systems. One potential consequence of exposures to these endocrine disruptors is that they may significantly increase the incidence of infertility in exposed populations. The purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate a methodology for applying stated preference techniques to assess the magnitude of economic values associated with reducing infertility risks from environmental sources. Most previous research in on nonmarket valuation of health and environmental risks has focused on individual decisions; however, infertility risks clearly present a context where the household (i.e. the couple) is the relevant decisionmaking unit. This research is intended to refine a conceptual framework for linking collective (household) decisions to the preferences of the individual members. It will provide a conceptual basis for deriving how measures of economic welfare based on households observed or stated decisions relate to the preferences of the individual adult members living in that household.Progress Summary:
Review of Household Decision Models. For the most part, the theory underlying revealed preference (and stated preference) methods for non-market valuation assumes that a single economic agent makes choices that can be used to recover preference information. To the extent an individual is assumed to be part of a household he/she is described as the decision-maker for the household and Becker's efficient household framework is implicitly adopted. Observed choices can be interpreted as if the household's decision were governed by a single preference relationship. With increasing prevalence of dual earner households, an extensive literature has developed questioning this view of household decisions . Throughout the course of this project we have collected and reviewed papers that have adapted or departed from the Becker model, in order to inform the development of our own model.
Literature Review on Environmental Causes of Infertility. Although there has been growing concern about environmental causes of infertility, the evidence of such linkages is somewhat unclear. Using the expertise of epidemiologists at the University of North Carolina, we compiled a detailed literature review of animal and epidemiological studies in this area. The conclusion of this review is that although a number of pollutants are potentially hazardous to fertility, current evidence is inadequate to draw a strong connection between environmental exposures and increased infertility risk.
Development of Conceptual Model. Based on our literature review of household decision models and the results of our other project activities, we have been developing a model of household decisions, where children are treated as a non-rival good within the household and the household decision is whether to reduce the risks of infertility. Given the existence of a private good offering the opportunity to reduce this collective risk, the structure of the problem allows that good to be treated as a weak complement to the household nonrival good. As a result it should be possible to evaluate models that distinguish individual preferences and to test the competing models' predictions for household choices.
Focus Groups. We conducted two focus groups with 5-6 couples who did not yet have children to discuss (1) how they make typical household decisions, (2) their expectations with regard to starting a family, (3) their understanding of the sources and magnitude of infertility risks. In the discussion of household decisions, we encouraged them to discuss how they budget for different types of household expenditures and how they resolve differences in opinions about how to spend household time and money. The purpose of these activities was to develop insights into the appropriateness of alternative models of household behavior. We also used these sessions to pretest different versions of a risk communication device and a WTP question for a hypothetical medication to reduce future infertility risks.
Survey. The results of the focus groups suggested that a more appropriate empirical approach for pursuing our research objectives would be to conduct a small scale (250 respondent) pilot survey. This was designed to be administered in a computer assisted format using mall intercept recruiting, and it should be completed in November 1997.
Future Activities:
We will use the results of the survey to support the further development our conceptual model and to test the hypotheses that arise from this model. Analysis of the survey results will also provide preliminary estimates of individuals' willingness to pay to reduce their risks of experiencing infertility. In addition, with the assistance of specialists at Duke University Medical Center we will initiate focus groups with patients that are in the early stages of infertility treatment decisions. In contrast to the earlier focus groups and the survey, which address household decisions to prevent infertility rather than decisions to treat infertility, these focus groups will provide insight into the role of information about treatment on infertility-related household decisions.
We will present preliminary results of our research at the annual meeting of the American Economics Association in early January 1998, in a presentation entitled "Nonmarket Valuation and the Household: Recovering Individual Preferences with Collective Risk."
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 5 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
RFA, Scientific Discipline, Health, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Health Risk Assessment, Risk Assessments, Ecology and Ecosystems, decision-making, Ecological Risk Assessment, Social Science, Economics & Decision Making, compensation, ecosystem valuation, policy analysis, public resources, risk preferences, social psychology, infertility risk, valuation, decision analysis, economic benefits, valuing environmental quality, cost benefit, economic incentives, environmental values, information dissemination, preference formation, standards of value, endocrine disruptors, human exposure, cost/benefit analysis, environmental policy, community-based, psychological attitudes, public values, interviews, public policy, efficient household framework, cost effectivenessProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.