Valuing air quality impacts using stated choice analysis: trading off visibility against morbidity effects

Area of Science:

• Environmental Economics
• Public Health
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Direct air quality valuation struggles to assign monetary values to specific environmental benefits.
• Air quality impacts diverse goods like health (mortality, morbidity) and visibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To disentangle and value distinct environmental services affected by air quality.
• To estimate the component values of health endpoints and visibility improvements.

Main Methods:

• A choice experiment survey was conducted in Santiago, Chile.
• Participants jointly traded off a respiratory illness endpoint and improved visibility against money.
• Logit and mixed-logit models were employed for data analysis.

Main Results:

• The midpoint value for the health endpoint ranged from USD 2,800 to USD 13,000.
• The midpoint value for an additional day of high visibility per year ranged from USD 281,000 to USD 379,000.
• Values varied based on the model used and age strata.

Conclusions:

• This study successfully separated the economic values of health and visibility benefits from air quality improvements.
• The findings provide crucial data for environmental policy and cost-benefit analyses in urban areas.