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Including intangible costs into the cost-of-illness approach: a method refinement illustrated based on the PM2.5 economic burden in China

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Abstract

The concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and 10 µm (PM10) is a widespread concern and has been demonstrated for 103 countries. During the past few years, the exposure–response function (ERf) has been widely used to estimate the health effects of air pollution. However, past studies are either based on the cost-of-illness or the willingness-to-pay approach, and therefore, either do not cover intangible costs or costs due to the absence of work. To address this limitation, a hybrid health effect and economic loss model is developed in this study. This novel approach is applied to a sample of environmental and cost data in China. First, the ERf is used to link PM2.5 concentrations to health endpoints of chronic mortality, acute mortality, respiratory hospital admission, cardiovascular hospital admission, outpatient visits—internal medicine, outpatient visits—pediatrics, asthma attack, acute bronchitis, and chronic bronchitis. Second, the health effect of PM2.5 is monetized into the economic loss. The mean economic loss due to PM2.5 was much heavier in the North than the South of China. Furthermore, the empirical results from 76 cities in China show that the health effects and economic losses were over 4.98 million cases and 382.30 billion-yuan in 2014 and decreased dramatically compared with those in 2013.

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Acknowledgements

Our heartfelt thanks should also be given to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (71473180, 71201010, 71303174, 71303076, and 71673083), National Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of China (14AZD068, 15ZDA054,16ZZD049), Guangdong Young Zhujiang Scholar (Yue Jiaoshi [2016]95), Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Talents of Guangdong (2014A030306031), Soft Science Foundation of Guangdong (2014A070703062), Social Science Foundation of Guangdong (GD14XYJ21), Distinguished Young Teachers of Guangdong ([2014]145), High-level Personnel Project of Guangdong ([2013]246), Guangdong key base of humanities and social science—Enterprise Development Research Institute, Institute of Resource, Environment and Sustainable Development Research, and Guangzhou key base of humanities and social science—Centre for Low Carbon Economic Research for funding supports. Dinh-Tri Vo recognizes financial support from University of Economics Ho Chi Minh city, Vienam.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Bangzhu Zhu

  2. Industrial and Economic Research Institute, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Bangzhu Zhu & Runzhi Pang

  3. IPAG Business School, IPAG Lab, 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006, Paris, France

    Julien Chevallier & Dinh-Tri Vo

  4. Université Paris 8, LED, 2 rue de la Liberté, 93526, Saint-Denis, France

    Julien Chevallier

  5. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yi-Ming Wei

  6. University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, 59C Nguyen Dinh Chieu Dist. 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Dinh-Tri Vo

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  1. Bangzhu Zhu
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  2. Runzhi Pang
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  3. Julien Chevallier
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Correspondence to Bangzhu Zhu or Julien Chevallier.

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Zhu, B., Pang, R., Chevallier, J. et al. Including intangible costs into the cost-of-illness approach: a method refinement illustrated based on the PM2.5 economic burden in China. Eur J Health Econ 20, 501–511 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-018-1012-0

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