Altruism, fertility, and the value of children: health policy evaluation and intergenerational welfare

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 2783

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Gesundheitspolitik ; Wert des Lebens ; Kinder ; Bewertung ; Altruismus ; Fruchtbarkeit ; Generationenbeziehungen ; Willingness to pay ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Birchenall, Javier A. ; Soares, Rodrigo Reis
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2007

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/34424
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-20080401477
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET