The social value of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: willingness to pay estimates from four Western countries

Costa-Font, Joan ORCID: 0000-0001-7174-7919, Harrison, S., Rudisill, C. and Salmasi, L. (2023) The social value of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: willingness to pay estimates from four Western countries. Health Economics, 32 (8). 1818 - 1835. ISSN 1057-9230

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Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines give rise to positive externalities on population health, society and the economy in addition to protecting the health of vaccinated individuals. Hence, the social value of such a vaccine exceeds its market value. This paper estimates the willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (or shadow prices), in four countries, namely the United States (US), the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy during the first wave of the pandemic when COVID-19 vaccines were in development but not yet approved. WTP estimates are elicited using a payment card method to avoid “yea saying” biases, and we study the effect of protest responses, sample selection bias, as well as the influence of trust in government and risk exposure when estimating the WTP. Our estimates suggest evidence of an average value of a hypothetical vaccine of 100–200 US dollars once adjusted for purchasing power parity. Estimates are robust to a number of checks.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author.
Divisions:	Health Policy
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
JEL classification:	H - Public Economics > H4 - Publicly Provided Goods > H42 - Publicly Provided Private Goods I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H23 - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
Date Deposited:	13 Apr 2023 15:18
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 20:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118625

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