Interventions to reduce pollution have the potential to
increase social welfare through improvements in health,
social and economic outcomes. This potential has been
shown in a range of economic analyses focusing on specific
interventions. In this chapter we present evidence from
studies focusing on the health impacts of environmental
interventions that have been evaluated from an economic
perspective. Overall, this body of evidence is strongly
suggestive of beneficial welfare impacts from most
interventions. However, there remains significant scope for
expanding and strengthening the current evidence base in
order to provide clearer guidance to policy makers in policy
design and investment decisions. Salient points made in this
chapter include:
1) England has successfully managed to “decouple” trends
of economic growth and polluting emissions, achieving
reductions in emissions of a large range of pollutants with
an expanding economy. However, the detrimental health
impacts of current levels of pollution are still large, as
are the potential benefits of taking more incisive actions
against pollution.
2) Economic analysis approaches typically applied in the
appraisal of environmental interventions are at odds
with those prevailing in the health care domain. A goldstandard
economic evaluation approach in the area of
environmental health interventions should take a societal
perspective and aim at assessing overall impacts on
social welfare. Available evidence neglecting these key
components likely underestimates the net benefit of
pollution reduction measures.
3) Research priorities should now include the evaluation of
the societal benefits of measures to address pollution
in order to justify economically beneficial interventions
that reduce individuals’ pollution exposure or remove the
source of emissions.