Ostro B D
Environ Health Perspect. 1980 Feb;34:185-8. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8034185.
Since the passage of the environmental legislation in the early 1970's, critics have attacked these laws as being unnecessary and for contributing significantly to the problem of inflation in the United States. This paper is an attempt to put the inflationary costs of air pollution into perspective by considering them in light of the cost, especially to public health, of not proceeding with pollution control. There is now a great deal of evidence that the concentration of certain pollutants in the air can contribute significantly to the incidence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and to certain forms of cancer. On the basis of the results of a recent study of the impacts of pollution control on inflation, the annual reduction in purchasing power of the average family is calculated to be $31 per family. To determine the average costs of air pollution on human health, research by Lave and Seskin is utilized. First, the implications of air pollution for mortality and morbidity rates are determined. Then, the reduction in direct health costs and indirect costs (lost productivity of workers) as a result of pollution abatement is estimated. These annual health costs from pollution total approximately $250 per family. The results suggest that the inflationary costs of air pollution control are more than offset by the damages to public health from unabated air pollution.
自20世纪70年代初环境立法通过以来，批评者抨击这些法律是不必要的，并且对美国的通货膨胀问题有重大影响。本文试图通过考虑空气污染的通胀成本，尤其是不进行污染控制对公众健康造成的成本，来正确看待这些成本。现在有大量证据表明，空气中某些污染物的浓度会显著增加呼吸道和心血管疾病以及某些癌症的发病率。根据最近一项关于污染控制对通货膨胀影响的研究结果，平均每个家庭每年购买力的下降计算为每户31美元。为了确定空气污染对人类健康的平均成本，我们利用了拉夫和塞斯金的研究。首先，确定空气污染对死亡率和发病率的影响。然后，估计由于减少污染而导致的直接健康成本和间接成本（工人生产力损失）的降低。这些每年因污染产生的健康成本总计约为每户250美元。结果表明，空气污染控制的通胀成本远远低于未减轻的空气污染对公众健康造成的损害。
