The report is one of four reports comparing risks currently associated with major environmental problems. Ranking the 31 environmental problems according to the severity of the actual and potential welfare damages they may cause was difficult, principally because of the incomplete information about their effects and different levels of aggregration among the problems. Many types of welfare effects have never been assessed comprehensively. Because of the paucity of information, these rankings to a great degree depend on subjective evaluation. Environmental problems were ranked within five distinct categories of welfare losses. These are soiling and material damages (Chapter 2), recreational losses (Chapter 3), damage to natural resources (Chapter 4), damage to commercial and public property and to ground-water supplies (Chapter 5), and losses in aesthetic and nonuser values (Chapter 6). To give readers a better basis for understanding these rankings, the Introduction discusses the procedures followed in ranking the welfare effects and discusses some methodological issues associated with the effort. Chapter 7 of the report presents a detailed rationale for the ranking and some recommendations based on the results of the effort.

An assessment of welfare effects from environmental pollution, Comparative Risk Project. PB 88-127089.