Altruistic and Private Valuations of Risk Reduction

To remedy the neglect of altruism in benefit assessments for risk regulation programs, this article reports the findings of a new survey of 785 consumers regarding their valuation of two pairs of risks from insecticide. The risk-dollar tradeoffs revealed by consumers averaged $2, 080 and $3, 680 per injury pair prevented within the household; they were willing to pay $5.01 and $9.06 per 1000 injury pairs prevented in the rest of the state and $1.72 and $2.39 for each 1000 injury pairs avoided elsewhere in the United States. The summed altruistic values for other individuals exceeded the private valuations, which suggests that altruism may be an important benefit component.