How much should Americans invest in promoting health and how should resources be allocated to cover the costs? A major contribution to economic approaches to the value of health, this volume brings together classic and up-to-date research by economists and public health experts on theories and measurements of health values, providing useful information for shaping public policy.

How stringent should environmental and occupational safety regulations be? How far should Medicaid support go? Should funding for research on Alzheimer's disease be increased? Should more money be spent on programs to discourage smoking? What are appropriate ways to determine damages in wrongful injury or death suits? Toward answering such questions, this volume examines various models of health valuation, including the cost-of-illness, preventive-expenditures, and quality-adjusted-life-year approaches.

The authors favor a willingness-to-pay approach grounded in individual preferences. Addressing a range of health issues, from the common cold and headaches to life-threatening illnesses, this book provides economists, health professionals, and policymakers with the most sophisticated ways of determining the value of health.