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Chanel

Publications

Exploring the Role of Emotions in Decisions Involving Catastrophic Risks: Lessons from a Double InvestigationBook chapterOlivier Chanel, Graciela Chichilnisky, Sébastien Massoni et Jean-Christophe Vergnaud, In: The Economics of the Global Environment, Graciela Chichilnisky et Armon Rezai (Eds.), 2016, Volume 29, pp. 553-575, Springer, Cham, 2016

Natural disasters due to climate change (like floods, hurricanes, heat waves or droughts) combine a risk of large losses and a low probability of occurrence, requiring decisions to be made in uncertain universes. However, the inability of standard decision under uncertainty models to provide rankings when some outcomes are catastrophic impedes rational (public) decision-making. This paper examines the role of emotions in individuals’ choices among alternatives involving catastrophic events, either in real life (flooding) or artificial (laboratory experiment) situations. We report a survey on 599 respondents aimed at determining how people exposed to different levels of flood risk form beliefs and make decisions under uncertainty before and after emotion-generating events. Data on their emotions, the emotions they expect to experience, their personality and psychological determinants, their symptoms before and after emotion-generating events are collected and analyzed. In parallel with this survey, experimental protocols replicate the emotional experience of a catastrophe and measure its impact on behavior and formation of beliefs. Emotions are induced by framing effects and measured through a self-declared worry scale. We collect behavioral data (insurance choice, subjective beliefs, performance) and measure how they are affected by the emotions felt during the decision-making. These protocols test some assumptions in the survey using experimental paradigms from psychophysics that allow us to control the sources of uncertainty experienced by the subjects. Results confirm that emotions connected with the nature of the risk can significantly affect desire to reduce it. The survey provides valuable material for comparative analysis, revealing how actual experience of an anticipated event affects decisions. The experiments show that emotions affect the decision-making process and the forming of probabilistic beliefs.
Quelques clarifications sur l’évaluation monétaire des effets sanitaires relatifs à la pollution atmosphériqueJournal articleOlivier Chanel, Mathilde Pascal, Sylvia Medina et Pascal Beaudeau, Environnement, Risques & Santé, Volume 14, Issue 5, pp. 431-434, 2015

L'évaluation des impacts sanitaires et économiques de la pollution atmosphérique constitue un enjeu majeur pour la population et pour les décideurs. Impliqués de longue date dans ce domaine, nous ne pouvons que nous féliciter de la parution de l'article de Rafenberg et al. (2015). II contribue en effet à la prise en compte de la morbidité chronique dans l'évaluation économique des effets de la pollution atmosphérique, une voie que le projet Aphekom avait également exploré par d'autres approches. Il nous a pourtant semblé nécessaire de clarifier un certain nombre de points relatifs à cette publication. Nous commencerons par évoquer les questions de méthodes. Nous aborderons ensuite la présentation et l'interprétation de certaines études discutées dans Rafenberg et al. (2015), car la présence d'erreurs relativise la portée de certains points de la discussion de cet article.
Combining discourse analyses to enrich theory: The case of local land-use policies in South Eastern FranceJournal articleLaurence Delattre, Olivier Chanel, Cecile Livenais et Claude Napoléone, Ecological Economics, Volume 113, Issue C, pp. 60-75, 2015

Local land-use policies are determined by a wide range of considerations that do not always favor open-space preservation. To identify them, a field study was undertaken in South Eastern France via semi-directive interviews with people responsible for municipal land-use policies. We use it to compare a qualitative (i.e. manual) discourse analysis with two quantitative (i.e. computer-assisted) analyses and combine them to identify the drivers of land-use policies, especially with regard to urban sprawl. Performing all three analyses allows us to switch back and forth between a local empirical approach and large-scale modeling and methods. This should enrich micro-economic models by clarifying more complex local features, like unbalanced relationships with neighboring municipalities or why “agriculture” should be considered as an independent interest group.
Monetary values for risk of death from air pollution exposure: a context-dependent scenario with a control for intra-familial altruismJournal articleOlivier Chanel et Stéphane Luchini, Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 67-91, 2014

We extend the individual dynamic model of lifetime resource allocation to assess the monetary value given to the increase in survival probabilities for every member of a household induced by improved air quality. We interpret this monetary value as VPF (value of a prevented fatality), which can also be expressed as a flow of discounted VOLY (value of life years) lost, and account for potential altruism towards other household members. We use a French air pollution contingent valuation survey that provides a description of the life-length reduction implied by a change in air pollution exposure. By privatising the public commodity air pollution, we succeed in ruling out any form of altruism (towards others living today and towards future generations) except altruism towards one's family. We estimate a mean VOLY of € 2001 140,000, a 30% premium for VOLY in perfect health w.r.t. average expected health status, and a mean VPF of € 2001 1.45 million for the respondent, all context-specific. In addition, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between his/her age and VOLY/VPF, and significant benevolence only towards children under 18.
Willingness to pay of committed citizens: A field experimentJournal articleDominique Ami, Frédéric Aprahamian, Olivier Chanel, Robert-Vincent Joule et Stéphane Luchini, Ecological Economics, Volume 105, Issue C, pp. 31-39, 2014

In this paper, we propose a behavioral approach to determine the extent to which the consumer/citizen distinction affects interpretations of monetary values in stated preferences methods. We perform a field experiment dealing with air pollution, where some (randomly selected) subjects are given the opportunity to behave politically by signing a petition for environmental protection prior to stating their private preferences in a standard contingent valuation exercise. We show that signing has the potential to influence respondents' willingness to pay values. Results indicate that even market-like situations are not immune to citizen behavior.
Determinants of Local Public Policies for Farmland Preservation and Urban Expansion: A French IllustrationJournal articleOlivier Chanel, Laurence Delattre et Claude Napoléone, Land Economics, Volume 90, Issue 3, pp. 411-433, 2014

We outline the determinants of local public policies for farmland preservation and urban expansion. We first rely on the literature and on a purposely designed field study of municipalities in southern France to propose a theoretical framework better suited to the French situation. The model considers aspects of land consumption, includes two interest groups as well as the median voter, and is then econometrically tested. We confirm the expected effects of certain sociodemographic determinants and highlight the impact of municipal budgetary considerations and the role of the agricultural sector. We also find more counterintuitive determinants, like local political regime or unbalanced neighboring relationships.
Economic valuation of the mortality benefits of a regulation on SO2 in 20 European citiesJournal articleOlivier Chanel, Susann Henschel, Patrick G. Goodman, Antonis Analitis, Richard Atkinson, Alain Le Tertre, Ariana Zeka et S. Medina, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 24, Issue 4, pp. 631-637, 2014

Since the 1970s, legislation has led to progress in tackling several air pollutants. We quantify the annual monetary benefits resulting from reductions in mortality from the year 2000 onwards following the implementation of three European Commission regulations to reduce the sulphur content in liquid fuels for vehicles. We first compute premature deaths attributable to these implementations for 20 European cities in the Aphekom project by using a two-stage health impact assessment method. We then justify our choice to only consider mortality effects as short-term effects. We rely on European studies when selecting the central value of a life-year estimate (€2005 86 600) used to compute the monetary benefits for each of the cities. We also conduct an independent sensitivity analysis as well as an integrated uncertainty analysis that simultaneously accounts for uncertainties concerning epidemiology and economic valuation. Results: The implementation of these regulations is estimated to have postponed 2212 (95% confidence interval: 772–3663) deaths per year attributable to reductions in sulphur dioxide for the 20 European cities, from the year 2000 onwards. We obtained annual mortality benefits related to the implementation of the European regulation on sulphur dioxide of €2005 191.6 million (95% confidence interval: €2005 66.9–€2005 317.2). Conclusion: Our approach is conservative in restricting to mortality effects and to short-term benefits only, thus only providing the lower-bound estimate. Our findings underline the health and monetary benefits to be obtained from implementing effective European policies on air pollution and ensuring compliance with them over time.
Chronic burden of near-roadway traffic pollution in 10 European cities (APHEKOM network)Journal articleLaura Perez, Christophe Declercq, Carmen Iñiguez, Inmaculada Aguilera, Chiara Badaloni, Ferran Ballester, Catherine Bouland, Olivier Chanel, Francisco B. Cirarda, Francesco Forastiere, et al., The European respiratory journal, Volume 42, Issue 3, pp. 594-605, 2013

Recent epidemiological research suggests that near road traffic-related pollution may cause chronic disease, as well as exacerbate related pathologies, implying that the entire “chronic disease progression” should be attributed to air pollution, no matter what the proximate cause was. We estimated the burden of childhood asthma attributable to air pollution in 10 European cities by calculating the number of cases of 1) asthma caused by near road traffic-related pollution, and 2) acute asthma events related to urban air pollution levels. We then expanded our approach to include coronary heart diseases in adults.Derivation of attributable cases required combining concentration-response function (CRF) between exposures and the respective health outcome of interest (obtained from published literature), an estimate of the distribution of selected exposures in the target population, and information about the frequency of the assessed morbidities.Exposure to roads with high vehicle traffic, a proxy for near road traffic-related pollution, accounted for 14% of all asthma cases. When a causal relationship between near road traffic-related pollution and asthma is assumed, 15% of all episodes of asthma symptoms were attributable to air pollution. Without this assumption, only 2% of asthma symptoms were attributable to air pollution. Similar patterns were found for coronary heart diseases in older adults.Pollutants along busy roads are responsible for a large and preventable share of chronic disease and related acute exacerbation in European urban areas.
Quantifying the health impacts of outdoor air pollution: useful estimations for public health actionJournal articleSylvia Medina, Ferran Ballester, Olivier Chanel, Christophe Declercq et Mathilde Pascal, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 67, Issue 6, pp. 480-483, 2013
Assessing the public health impacts of urban air pollution in 25 European cities: Results of the Aphekom projectJournal articleMathilde Pascal, Magali Corso, Olivier Chanel, Christophe Declercq, Chiara Badaloni, Giulia Cesaroni, Susann Henschel, Kadri Meister, Daniela Haluza, Piedad Martin-Olmedo, et al., Science of The Total Environment, Volume 449, pp. 390-400, 2013

Introduction
The Aphekom project aimed to provide new, clear, and meaningful information on the health effects of air pollution in Europe. Among others, it assessed the health and monetary benefits of reducing short and long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) and ozone in 25 European cities.

Method
Health impact assessments were performed using routine health and air quality data, and a common methodology. Two scenarios were considered: a decrease of the air pollutant levels by a fixed amount and a decrease to the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines. Results were economically valued by using a willingness to pay approach for mortality and a cost of illness approach for morbidity.

Results
In the 25 cities, the largest health burden was attributable to the impacts of chronic exposure to PM2.5. Complying with the WHO guideline of 10 μg/m3 in annual mean would add up to 22 months of life expectancy at age 30, depending on the city, corresponding to a total of 19,000 deaths delayed. The associated monetary gain would total some €31 billion annually, including savings on health expenditures, absenteeism and intangible costs such as well-being, life expectancy and quality of life.

Conclusion
European citizens are still exposed to concentrations exceeding the WHO recommendations. Aphekom provided robust estimates confirming that reducing urban air pollution would result in significant health and monetary gains in Europe. This work is particularly relevant now when the current EU legislation is being revised for an update in 2013.