Welfare costs of catastrophes: lost consumption and lost lives

Martin, Ian and Pindyck, R. S. (2020) Welfare costs of catastrophes: lost consumption and lost lives. Economic Journal. ISSN 0013-0133

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Abstract

Most of the literature on the economics of catastrophes assumes that such events cause a reduction in the stream of consumption, as opposed to widespread fatalities. Here we show how to incorporate death in a model of catastrophe avoidance, and how a catastrophic loss of life can be expressed as a welfare-equivalent drop in consumption. We examine how potential fatalities affect the policy interdependence of catastrophic events and “willingness to pay” (WTP) to avoid them. Using estimates of the “value of a statistical life” (VSL), we find the WTP to avoid major pandemics, and show it is large (10% or more of annual consumption) and partly driven by the risk of macroeconomic contractions. Likewise, the risk of pandemics significantly increases the WTP to reduce consumption risk. Our work links the VSL and consumption disaster literatures.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/ej
Additional Information:	© 2020 Royal Economic Society
Divisions:	Finance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D81 - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q54 - Climate; Natural Disasters
Date Deposited:	19 Aug 2020 15:57
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 16:34
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/106200

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