Variation in Willingness to Pay for Reducing Mortality Risk from Air Pollution by Respondent Age

This study attempts to model the variation in willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in mortality risk from air pollution, including its sensitivity to changes in the magnitude of the considered risk reduction for two age groups: the younger group (18–24 years) and the older group (25 years and above). The research problem lies in the fact that WTP does not change proportionally to the magnitude of the proposed reduction in mortality risk, which results in a wide range of estimates of the value of a statistical life (VSL). Both the variation in WTP and its sensitivity to different levels of risk reduction may depend on individual respondent characteristics.The results indicate that a 1% increase in the level of mortality risk reduction leads to a 0.141% increase in WTP for the younger group and a 0.164% increase for the older group. At the same time, the younger group demonstrates a higher WTP than the older group. For example, for a reduction of 100 deaths per 100,000 people, the monthly WTP amounts to 1.044.56 RUB for the younger group and 717.17 RUB for the older group. The estimated VSL, accounting for the variation in WTP with respect to sensitivity to the magnitude of the risk reduction, is 14.3 million RUB for the younger group and 9.7 million RUB for the older group. Without accounting for this variation, the estimates would range from 7 to 41 million RUB and from 5 to 27 million RUB, respectively.