Abstract
Billions of dollars have been spent on reducing the likelihood and severity of influenza pandemics originating in domesticated animals. These investments have global public-good properties and have to be shared. This chapter provides guidance for evaluating the benefits of flu-prevention expenditures and sharing their costs. Investments are valued by their implied statistical value of a life saved and are compared to a global average value that we construct. The results suggest that, if a $10 billion annual investment reduces the expected fatalities of a pandemic by 10%, then it is a reasonable or even very good investment. Our figures suggest that the United States should cover 20% and China 11% of the global public-good investment in flu risk reduction.
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Notes
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This might take account, for example, of the costs of attendant social disruption and collateral risk to human health and safety.
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This is because \( {\hbox{ SVL}}{{\hbox{S}}_i} = {\hbox{SVL}}{{\hbox{S}}_{\rm{US}}} \times {\hbox{GD}}{{\hbox{P}}_i}/{\hbox{po}}{{\hbox{p}}_i}/{\hbox{GDPP}}{{\hbox{C}}_{\rm{US}}} \), \( {\hbox{SCL}} \) where GDPPC is GDP per capita.
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© 2012 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States
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Sproul, T.W., Zilberman, D., Roland-Holst, D., Otte, J. (2012). The Cost of Saving a Statistical Life: A Case for Influenza Prevention and Control. In: Zilberman, D., Otte, J., Roland-Holst, D., Pfeiffer, D. (eds) Health and Animal Agriculture in Developing Countries. Natural Resource Management and Policy, vol 36. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7077-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7077-0_8
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