Dose-Response Information and Environmental Damage Assessments: an Economic Perspective

Abstract

The concept of a dose-response function is central to the assessment of biological damages associated with air pollution. Dose-response information is also important to the economist who wishes to assess the bioeconomic consequences of such pollution. The need for informed communication between the biological scientist and the economist in pollution research was enhanced in 1981 by President Reagan’s Executive Order 12291, which explicitly requires the application of benefit-cost procedures to most rules a federal agency wishes to promulgate. One major determinant of the usefulness of dose-response information has since become the degree to which it contributes to improving the economic efficiency basis of environmental policy decisions. This paper suggests some criteria or guidelines concerning response surface experimental design, estimation, and choice of models which may assist the biologist in acquiring economically informative dose-response data. Also pointed out are some plausible sources of discrepancies between experimentally derived surfaces and those generated under field conditions as a source of estimation bias which may effect benefits assessments.