The Income-Based Human Capital Valuation Methods in Public Health Economics Used by Forensic Economics
This paper surveys the development of income-based human capital methods in public health economics which, with the exception of worklife expectancy, forms the methodological core of forensic economics. The main differences in the application of human capital valuation between the two disciplines are the use of statistical population averages and gross costs in public health economics and individual-specific estimates and net costs in forensic economics. The paper provides examples of the public health economics application of the human capital approach in cost-of-illness (COI) analyses of disease or injury, disability, and premature mortality with specific discussion of cerebral palsy.Abstract
Contributor Notes
*Research Economist, Associate Director for Health Services Research and Evaluation, Division of Blood Disorders, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
**Senior Economist, John Ward Economics, Prairie Village, KS.
The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors thank Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp for providing helpful comments on the cerebral palsy case study.