Public Choices Between Life Saving Programs: The Tradeoff Between Qualitative Factors and Lives Saved

In a telephone survey 1000 adults were confronted with pairs of life saving programs that differed in number of lives saved and asked which program in each pair they would choose to implement. Respondents were also asked to rate qualitative program characteristics on 10 point scales. For most respondents, lives saved are significant in explaining program choices, as are psychological risk characteristics. The rate of technical substitution between these characteristics and lives saved is, however, inelastic. It is noteworthy that for about 20 percent of respondents, choices among programs appear to be insensitive to lives saved.