Estimates of the national benefits and costs of improving ambient air quality

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1983 · J. Environ. Manage.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5024273

Brady, G L ^[1]; Bower, B T; Lakhani, H A

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1. Yale Law School, New Haven, CT

This paper examines the estimates of national benefits and national costs of ambient air quality improvement in the United States for the period 1970 to 1978. Analysis must be at the micro-level for both receptors of pollution and the dischargers of residuals. Section 2 discusses techniques for estimating the national benefits from improving ambient air quality. The literature on national benefits to health (mortality and morbidity) and non-health (avoiding damages to materials, plants, crops, etc.) is critically reviewed in this section. For the period 1970 to 1978, the value of these benefits ranged from about $5 billion to $51 billion, with a point estimate of about $22 billion. The national cost estimates by the Council on Environmental Quality, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and McGraw-Hill are provided in section 2. Cost estimates must include not only the end-of-pipe treatment measures, but also the alternatives: changes in product specification, product mix, processes, etc. These types of responses are not generally considered in estimates of national costs. For the period 1970 to 1978, estimates provided in section 3 of national costs of improving ambient air quality ranged from $8 to $9 billion in 1978 dollars. Section 4 concludes that the national benefits for improving ambient air quality exceed the national costs for the average and the high values of benefits, but not for the low estimates. Section 5 discusses the requirements for establishing a national regional computational framework for estimating national benefits and national costs. 49 references, 2 tables

• OSTI ID: 5024273
• Journal Information: J. Environ. Manage.; (United States), Vol. 16:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
COST ESTIMATION
AIR QUALITY
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
CALCULATION METHODS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
500100* - Environment
Atmospheric- Basic Studies- (-1989)
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety