Altruistic and Private Values For Saving Lives With an Oyster Consumption Safety Program

Risk Anal. 2020 Nov;40(11):2413-2426. doi: 10.1111/risa.13556. Epub 2020 Jul 11.

Abstract

We use data from an Internet-based survey and estimate the benefits of an oyster consumption safety policy with the contingent valuation method. In addition to providing a context-specific estimate of willingness-to-pay for oyster safety, we consider an important issue in the contingent valuation mortality risk reduction literature. A number of studies find that willingness-to-pay for mortality risk reduction is not sensitive to the scope of the risk change. We present the scope test as a difference in the number of lives saved by the program, instead of small changes in risk, and find that referendum votes are responsive to scope. A third feature of this article is that we identify those at-risk respondents who would most benefit from the policy and decompose willingness-to-pay into use values and altruistic nonuse values. We find that willingness-to-pay per life saved ranges from $3.95 million to $7.69 million for the private good of lives saved when the respondent is at risk (i.e., use values). Willingness-to-pay per life saved including both use and altruistic nonuse values ranges from $6.89 million to $12.87 million.

Keywords: Altruism; contingent valuation; food safety; scope test.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Altruism*
  • Animals
  • Food Microbiology*
  • Humans
  • Ostreidae / microbiology*
  • Risk Management / organization & administration
  • Safety Management / organization & administration*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires