Fudan-LSE Lecture Series No.48

Title: 

The economic benefits of avoiding IQ losses due to chemical exposure: Evidence from 11 countries

Speaker:

Professor  Susana Mourato，London School of Economics and Political Science

Host: 

Professor Yijia Jing, IGPP, Fudan University

Time: 

12:00-13:00 (Beijing Time), November 6th

Venue: 

Room 805E, 8th Floor, West Sub-building of Guanghua Towers

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The Speaker：

Professor Susana Mourato is Vice-President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) and Professor of Environmental Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She provides strategic leadership for LSE’s world-leading research, knowledge exchange and impact, as well as advancing collaborations with key institutional partners and funders. She also oversees the School’s innovation, consulting and entrepreneurship activity, has responsibility for postgraduate research students and for LSE’s British Library of Political and Economic Science.

Susana is a leading expert in environmental valuation, developing and applying economic valuation techniques to a wide range of environmental, health, and cultural heritage goods and services. She has also undertaken research on the links between subjective well-being and the environment, and more recently on using insights from behavioural economics to promote sustainable behaviours. She has over 120 scientific publications, including papers in leading journals of her field and 4 books, and many years of experience in advice and policy work for governments, international organisations, industry, and charities. She is an associate of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and was Head of LSE’s Department of Geography & Environment as well as Academic Director of LSE Summer School.

Abstract:

Chemicals are part of our daily life but need to be managed to limit the risks to human health and the environment. Managing and regulating chemicals requires robust estimates of their economic costs and benefits. Exposure to chemicals has been shown to affect IQ in children. IQ loss is associated with lower educational achievement, lower lifetime income, and higher probability to engage in criminal behaviour. This study estimates the economic value of avoiding reductions in IQ in children due to chemical exposure. Through willingness to pay surveys conducted in 11 countries we find that on average respondents value the avoidance of IQ loss in children at around USD 3,000 per IQ point, over 5 years.