Article

Willingness to pay and QALYs: What can we learn about valuing foodborne risk?

Henrik Andersson, James K. Hammitt, and Kristian Sundström

Abstract

This paper examines the value of reducing foodborne risk. Previous research on the valuation of health risk has been dominated by the study of mortality risk. However, in most cases foodborne illnesses are non-fatal, so we focus on individuals’ preferences for reducing morbidity risk, while also including a realistic, if remote, chance of death. We use a contingent valuation method on a Swedish sample and we estimate a value of a statistical illness consistent with previous findings in the literature. We also examine how willingness to pay (WTP) varies with the expected change in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and estimate the WTP per QALY. We find that WTP increases with, though less than proportionally to, a change in QALYs. However, our results also suggest that respondents may have found it difficult to evaluate compound risks of both morbidity and mortality simultaneously.

Keywords

food risks; QALY; valuation; willingness to pay;

JEL codes

  • D80: General
  • I10: General
  • Q18: Agricultural Policy • Food Policy

Replaces

Henrik Andersson, James K. Hammitt, and Kristian Sundström, Willingness to pay and QALYs: What can we learn about valuing foodborne risk?, TSE Working Paper, n. 11-272, November 2011.

Reference

Henrik Andersson, James K. Hammitt, and Kristian Sundström, Willingness to pay and QALYs: What can we learn about valuing foodborne risk?, Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 66, n. 3, September 2015, pp. 727–752.

See also

Published in

Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 66, n. 3, September 2015, pp. 727–752