All articles tagged with #cost benefit analysis
Vox reports the EPA will stop assigning a dollar value to health benefits (like avoided deaths and hospital visits) in cost-benefit analyses for PM2.5 and ozone rules, evaluating costs without monetized health gains, a shift that experts warn could weaken protections and tilt decisions toward polluters.
The EPA will stop tallying the health benefits of reducing air pollution when setting pollution limits, focusing only on industry costs, a shift that could ease rollbacks of rules on pollutants from coal plants, refineries, and other facilities.
A NASA report highlights that reducing the time satellites remain in orbit post-mission is a highly cost-effective way to mitigate orbital debris. The study found that even modest reductions in post-mission disposal timeframes can yield significant benefits, with potential net benefits up to $9 billion. The report also identifies promising debris remediation techniques, such as "just in time" collision avoidance, and emphasizes the importance of economic analysis in developing space sustainability strategies.
Two new drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, have emerged as potential "breakthrough" treatments for Alzheimer's disease by targeting the underlying cause of the disease, beta-amyloid plaques. However, their beneficial effects are minimal, with potential side effects and high costs. Experts debate the value of these treatments, with some emphasizing the importance of hope for patients and families, while others advocate for a focus on prevention, as lifestyle and environmental factors could delay or prevent dementia.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging a rule that requires states to prevent their air pollution from drifting into neighboring states, with three states, led by Ohio, claiming the rule is too costly. The "good neighbor" policy, strengthened by the Biden administration, aims to control pollution from power plants and other industrial sources, citing the Clean Air Act's mandate to protect neighboring states from pollution. The court's decision to take up the case on an emergency docket raised eyebrows, reflecting a trend of skepticism towards environmental regulations, with potential implications for future policies.
A new study suggests that achieving the 2°C global warming target set out in the Paris Agreement is not economically reasonable without major changes. The study emphasizes the need to prioritize non-market factors such as human health and biodiversity loss in climate change goals. The cost of climate change, including mitigation efforts, is estimated to range from 46 to 230 trillion US dollars, while the cost of additional mitigation efforts is estimated to be 45 to 130 trillion US dollars. The study highlights the importance of integrating climate change, biodiversity, and health issues and accelerating technological innovations to reduce mitigation costs.
A recent study explains the social phenomenon of six degrees of separation using mathematics. The balance between the cost and benefit of maintaining social connections shapes the global human social network, resulting in an average of six steps between any two people. This explains why ideas, trends, and even diseases can spread globally within a few transmission steps. The study shows that our connected world enables rapid spread of information and diseases, but also creates a platform for global collaboration.
A new study shows that screening every single 30-year-old in the United States for three particular genetic conditions may not only save lives but be reasonably cost-effective. Three conditions are described by the CDC as "Tier 1" conditions, genetic syndromes with a significant impact on life expectancy that also have definitive, effective therapies. Cost-benefit analyses work by comparing two independent policy choices: the status quo and an alternative policy. The authors estimate that, at the midpoint of all their assumptions, the cost of this program would be $68,000 per QALY saved.