Author: David WeilPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Workplace injuries and fatalities in the U.S. create significant economic costs to society. There are two major approaches to valuing these costs: a direct-cost approach and a market-based cost approach. This paper compares the two methods of economic valuation, focusing in particular on how differences between them affect the estimated magnitude of economic consequences. In so doing, it surveys the literature that has arisen in the past 25 years to measure different aspects of economic consequences. Market-based estimates of the costs of injuries are generally larger than those based on direct cost approaches, particularly in how they account for occupational fatalities and losses arising from work disabilities. Direct cost approaches to economic valuation, common in the public health literature, do not fully capture the resource allocation costs of workplace injuries and fatalities. Economic research methods do not fully incorporate the factors connecting injury/illness events to disabilities. Researchers in both fields could therefore benefit from better integration of their research efforts.