VALUING HEALTH-EFFECTS OF AIR-POLLUTION IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES - THECASE OF TAIWAN

A contingent valuation survey was conducted in Taiwan to elicit willin gness to pay (WTP) to avoid a recurrence of the episode of acute respi ratory illness most recently experienced by the respondent. We estimat e a model in which willingness to pay depends on the attributes of the illness (duration and number of symptoms, and nature of the illness) and on respondent characteristics (such as income and health history), and allow mitigating behavior to be endogenously determined with will ingness to pay. WTP of Taiwanese households is compared with benefits transfer extrapolations that adjust WTP for the United States by Taiwa n household income, relative to U.S. household income. (C) 1997 Academ ic Press.