Archive
2023 96 97 98 99 100 101
2022 90 91 92 93 94 95
2021 84 85 86 87 88 89
2020 78 79 80 81 82 83
2019 72 73 74 75 76 77
2018 66 67 68 69 70 71
2017 60 61 62 63 64 65
2016 54 55 56 57 58 59
2015 48 49 50 51 52 53
2014 42 43 44 45 46 47
News
Submit your article
Newsletter


Issue № 91. April 2022

Societal Cost of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Mortality Using Value of Statistical Life

Ekaterina A. Zubova

PhD student, Faculty of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Fedeartion; Fox Fellow (2021–2022), Yale University, New Haven, USA.
E-mail: ekaterina.zubova@yale.edu
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3589-4772

The study is devoted to estimating the societal cost of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mortality in 2020 using the value of statistical life. According to official statistics, most deaths due to coronavirus are observed among older people. Since there is no consensus in the current scientific literature on whether value of life estimates need to be age-adjusted for purposes of cost-benefit analysis, both age-adjusted and age-invariant estimates are provided for comparison. The article presents three approaches to determining societal costs of the pandemic: using the average value of statistical life for the entire population, using a decreasing coefficient (senior discount) for older ages, and considering age-adjusted estimates of the value of statistical life, depending on life expectancy within age cohorts. According to the calculation results, the social damage from mortality due to COVID-19 in 2020 amounted to 41,721, 32,956-34,522, and 15,5 trillion rubles using the approaches mentioned above, respectively. All these values are significantly higher than the economic damage, amounting to just under 1 trillion rubles, according to Rospotrebnadzor. This example demonstrates the potential of using the value of statistical life estimates to analyze changes in social welfare and clearly illustrates how underestimating such changes distort overall damage estimates. The research results can be used in public administration and for scientific purposes for a comprehensive analysis of the coronavirus pandemic consequences for Russian society.

Keywords

Value of statistical life, causes of death, coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, societal costs, economic impact of the pandemic.

DOI: 10.24412/2070-1381-2022-91-173-192

Comments:
No material published in this journal may be reproduced in print or in electronic form without a link to "E-journal. Public Administrarion".
119991, Room A-710, Shuvalovskiy building, Lomonosov Moscow State University
(27/4, Lomonosovskiy Avenue); phone: +7 (495) 930-85-71
Copyright © 2015 SPA MSU


Яндекс.Метрика