SAVING LIVES IN THE PRESENT VERSUS SAVING LIVES IN THE FUTURE - IS THERE A FRAMING EFFECT

To estimate the discount rate for lives saved in the future a number o f studies have been carried out on the trade-off between saving lives now and in the future. A telephone survey is administered to about 1,7 00 individuals to test if the framing of the question affects the esti mated trade-off. In one sample the question is framed as saving 100 li ves today versus saving x future lives and in one sample the question is framed as saving 100 future lives versus saving y lives today. The result shows that the framing has a major impact on the trade-off.