Published clinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that the public health impact of violent crime can be significant. Victims of physical assaults can sustain injuries of varying degrees of severity and are likely to experience symptoms of mental distress that may be either short-term or chronic in nature. This paper reports on a UK Home Office funded research project concerned with exploring the feasibility and validity of using stated preference survey methods to value the health outcomes of violent assault for use in allocative decision making. The study draws on data generated from a survey of1000 members of the general public in England who were administered, using face-to-face interviews, as series of contingent valuation and contingent ranking questions. Econometric estimation procedures are applied to the survey data to derive estimates of the mean willingness-to-pay to reduce the incidence of violent crime. Standard tests are built into the survey design to allow response validity to be assessed. The paper will present key results from the econometric estimations and will examine a series of methodological issues including: the confidence to be placed in contingent ranking versus contingent valuation responses; a comparison of the validity of responses to scenarios framed within a risk context vis-à-vis responses to questions framed within a certainty and ex-post context; and a decomposition of the relative impact of the risk of victimisation per se versus health outcome on individual preferences.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session the participant will have been made aware of economic approaches to valuing public health risks, and will be more informed regarding the welfare costs attached to the health impact of violent crime
Keywords: Health Risks, Crime
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.