Nils C. Soguel - Böcker

The economic analysis of tobacco consumption is a complex and challenging issue which entails addressing many different questions: what is the economic burden of smoking and do smokers "pay their way"?; how do individuals perceive their own health risks?; what is the effect of the addictive properties of nicotine on the behaviour of a rational, utility-maximizing individual?; and what is the most effective way to discourage tobacco consumption? In this context, the assessment of the social burden of smoking using a cost-of-illness framework has played a central role since the beginning of the 1970s. Interest in this type of study has grown even more in the wake of the lawsuits brought by American states against the tobacco companies with the aim of recovering excessive medical costs resulting from smoking-related diseases. Economists argue that there is no need for government intervention on condition that smokers receive accurate information about the health hazards - including the risk of addiction - and that they bear all the costs of smoking themselves.The purpose of this text is to review the various methods used to value the adverse health outcomes of smoking, from the standard human capital approach to the preference-based methods with which intangibles can be assessed. The volume also also aims to help readers better understand the behaviour of smokers as well as the factors that determine the demand for cigarettes. Finally, the volume contains a review of the scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of taxes in reducing tobacco use.

Since the 1970s, economic theory has extended its field of application to non-market goods such as environmental resources and health. Although it is impossible to assign a price to these goods on the basis of market mechanisms alone, the fact that they have no price does not mean that they have no value. One technique in which economists have shown a marked interest is the contingent valuation method (CVM), which has mainly been used to assign a monetary value to environmental goods. It was first applied to natural resources used for recreational purposes. CVM has been applied to health only recently, so that studies in this field are relatively more scarce than those dealing with the environment, including transport. An overview of experiments conducted in Europe is also included.

This desire for better results requires that better methods for their measurement exist so that they can be better understood and, ultimately, improved.

Education has increasingly become the focus of public discourse and policy, with its methods, resources and achievements widely debated. As a result, educational systems are now more than ever faced with the challenge of improving their performance and of proving that suitable measures are being taken to guarantee greater efficiency regarding equity. This desire for better results requires that better methods for their measurement exist so that they can be better understood and, ultimately, improved. Several disciplines have already developed instruments for this purpose. The educational sciences have been particularly active in this field. Other disciplines, such as sociology, economics, management, information technology, and political science are also making significant contributions to the emergence of a better form of governance.Before one can benefit from these developments, one first must know about their existence and analyse and question them. The proposed book is unique in that it brings together a wide range of disciplines and experience from several countries. What are possible models of governance? How do we measure their effects in terms of efficiency and equity? What type of contribution can financial and information systems make? How do we adapt the prevailing culture to the challenge of better performance? These are some of the concrete questions to which this book provides an answer.

Over the past two decades, economic theory has extended its field of application to non-market goods such as environmental resources and health. Although it is impossible to assign a price to these goods on the basis of market mechanisms alone, the fact that they have no price does not mean that they have no value. One technique in which economists have shown a marked interest is the contingent valuation method (CVM), which has mainly been used to assign a monetary value to environmental goods. It was first applied to natural resources used for recreational purposes. CVM has been applied to health only recently, so that studies in this field are relatively more scarce than those dealing with the environment, although several valuation methodology surveys are available. There has hitherto been no book which has drawn together and analyzed recent contingent valuations in the field of transport accidents. Contingent Valuation, Transport Safety and the Value of Life provides an overview of the experiments conducted in Europe (Denmark, France, the U.K., Sweden and Switzerland). While a number of contributions are critical, others show how the estimates obtained in the area of road transport can be used to assess the adverse health effects of other causes, such as public transport accidents or air pollution.