On aggregating QALYs: a comment on Dolan

Dolan [Dolan, P., 1998, The measurement of individual utility and social we lfare. Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 17, pp. 39-52] in a recent paper s uggested an empirical method for estimating the shape of the social welfare function. Using a simple theoretical model it is shown that Dolan's propos ed empirical method has no theoretical foundation. The main problem with th e approach is that it measures only the altruistic values that individuals attach to other peoples' health status and ignores the utility that individ uals attach to their own health status. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: 110; D60.