THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF HUMAN HEALTH DAMAGE CAUSED BY NEGATIVE ECOLOGICAL EXPOSURE

This article is devoted to a review of the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches to solving the problem of assessing the negative consequences for human health caused by anthropogenic environmental impacts. The authors analyze the goals, internal motives and types of damage assessments carried out by various researchers, determine the projections and measurements of the socio-economic category of damage. The study shows the main stages of the basic algorithm for the valuation of health damage. Two main methodological approaches to assessment are disclosed: the calculation of costs due to the negative impact and the assessment of the willingness to pay for risk prevention. The history of the emergence of these approaches, theoretical foundations, advantages and disadvantages, internal structure and logic of work are presented. In particular, with regard to the approach based on the determination of the cost of disease, the categories of cost directions that form its internal structure, research prospects and competing approaches to determining the cost of indirect costs are disclosed. In relation to the willingness to pay approach, a decomposition of economic terms is presented that determine the amount that the respondent is willing to pay for the agreed risk reduction. The basic economic components of the utility category for determining the willingness to pay have been determined. Analyzing various approaches to assessing damage, the authors make an attempt to determine the areas of their possible application in the implementation of scientific research and applied developments. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of the publication of research results, assumptions were made about the development trends of the two prevailing methodological approaches to assessing damage to human health in the world and in Russia, with substantiation of the underlying causes. A forecast has been made on the further evolution of the methodology for assessing damage to human health from adverse environmental impacts in Russia.