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Is silence golden? A test of the incorporation of the effects of ill‐health on income and leisure in health state valuations
Author(s) -
Sendi Pedram,
Brouwer Werner B. F.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.971
Subject(s) - valuation (finance) , economics , quality of life (healthcare) , personal income , silence , actuarial science , income elasticity of demand , demographic economics , labour economics , medicine , economic growth , nursing , finance , philosophy , aesthetics
The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether people include the effects of ill‐health on income and leisure in quality of life valuation when the measure is silent on both. A convenience sample of 20 health professionals had to rate a health status on a visual analogue scale (VAS) without being explicitly asked to consider the effects of ill‐health on income and leisure. A majority of respondents (60%) does not consider income effects and 75% does consider the effects on leisure. Explicitly asking respondents to incorporate these effects lowers the valuation. Our results indicate that whatever separation between costs and effects is preferred, using quality of life measures which are silent on income and leisure, leads to either double‐counting or ignoring real costs or effects. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.