What is the meaning of (statistical) life? Benefit–cost analysis in the time of COVID-19 | Zendy

Jonathan Colmer | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

What is the meaning of (statistical) life? Benefit–cost analysis in the time of COVID-19

Author(s) -

Jonathan Colmer

Publication year - 2020

Publication title -

oxford review of economic policy

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 1.948

H-Index - 85

eISSN - 1460-2121

pISSN - 0266-903X

DOI - 10.1093/oxrep/graa022

Subject(s) - covid-19 , meaning (existential) , economics , psychological intervention , cost–benefit analysis , public economics , actuarial science , social cost , psychology , medicine , political science , microeconomics , nursing , disease , pathology , virology , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , psychotherapist

Efforts to support public policy decisions need to be conducted carefully and thoughtfully. Recent efforts to estimate the social benefits of reductions in mortality risks associated with COVID-19 interventions are likely understated. There are large uncertainties over how much larger the social benefits could be. This raises questions about how helpful conventional approaches to valuing mortality and morbidity risks for benefit–cost analyses can be in contexts such as the current crisis.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research