Previous studies have shown that cost of illness (COI) measures are lower than
the conceptually correct willingness-to-pay (WTP) measure of the economic
benefits of disease prevention. We compare COI with stated preference estimates
of WTP associated with shigellosis in a rural area of China. COI data were
collected through face-to-face interviews at 7 and 14 days after cultureconfirmed
diagnosis. WTP to avoid an episode similar to the one the respondent
just experienced was elicited using a sliding-scale payment card.

This article considers the investment case for using the Vi polysaccharide vaccine in developing countries
from two perspectives: reducing typhoid cases and limiting new health care spending. A case study is
presented using data fromSouth and Southeast Asia. The purpose of the paper, however, is to drawbroad
implications that may apply to developing countries in general. Typical consumer demand functions
developed from stated preference household surveys in South and Southeast Asia are used to predict

Many economic analyses of immunization programmes focus on the benefits in terms of public-sector
cost savings, but do not incorporate estimates of the private cost savings that individuals receive from
vaccination. This paper considers the implications of Bahl et al.'s cost-of-illness estimates for typhoid
immunization policy by examining how community-level incidence estimates and information on distribution
of costs of illness among patients and the public-health sector can be used in the economic

A contingent valuation survey of Thai adults revealed that private demand for a hypothetical AIDS vaccine that is safe, has no side effects, and lasts 10 years, rises with income, the lifetime risk of HIV infection and vaccine efficacy, and declines with vaccine price and respondent’s age.

The European Union has been relatively cautious about using biotechnology in food production. A label regime combined with the right of individual member states to ban introduction of new genetically modified (GM) strains means thatGMfood products in effect are banned in many countries.

We show how it is possible to empirically test whether a ban can be motivated by reference to potential negative externalities. This is followed up by results from a choice experiment.We cannot reject the hypothesis of equal WTP for a ban and a labeling scheme.

In the highlands of Ethiopia, livestock as an important component of the mixed farming system perform multiple functions providing high quality food, draft power and manure for crop production, and cash income. Field studies in different parts of the country in the 1980s showed that livestock account for 37-87% of total farm cash income of farmers, indicating the importance of livestock in rural livelihood, especially as one moves from mixed farming in the highlands to agropastoral systems on the highland-lowland margins (Gryseels, 1988).

We investigate the effectiveness of different smoking policies on smokers’ expectations to quit smoking using a choice experiment on a sample of smokers identified within the World Health Organization (WHO) MONICA Project.

This paper analyzes the marginal willingness to pay for changes in noise levels related to changes in the volume of flight movements at a city airport in Stockholm, Sweden, by using a choice experiment.

Using a contingent valuation survey, people’s willingness to pay for a given risk reduction is found to be much larger, consistently more than two times as large, when traveling by air compared to by taxi.

Follow-up questions revealed that an important reason for this discrepancy is that many experience a higher mental suffering from flying, and that they are willing to pay to reduce this suffering. It was also consistently found that people are willing to pay more for a certain risk reduction if the original price was higher. Policy implications are discussed.