On the Contingent Valuation of Safety and the Safety of Contingent Valuation: Part 1-Caveat Investigator

This article reports the results of two studies aimed at testing and refining a procedure for estimating willingness-to-pay based monetary values of safety using the contingent valuation method. In spite of the fact that respondents were given the opportunity to discuss various safety issues and key concepts in focus group meetings held in advance of individual interviews, and were also given ample opportunity to revise their responses in the light of the overall pattern of these responses, the results show clear evidence of extensive and persistent insensitivity to the scale and scope of the safety improvements that were specified in the contingent valuation questions, as well as vulnerability to framing effects. This clearly casts serious doubt on the reliability and validity of willingness-to-pay based monetary values of safety estimated using conventional contingent valuation procedures.     

Poverty and child health: an annotation

SUMMARY. There is a long established link between poverty and child health, both in the United Kingdom and in other countries. In this review of the literature, the author explores the nature of this link. The paper discusses the historical background and briefly reviews the evidence from the developing countries and the controversy surrounding the definition of poverty before examining the association between child health and poverty in the United Kingdom. The author concludes with some suggestions for future research and some thoughts on the implications for doctors working with children