Monetary Valuation of PM(10)-Related Health Risks in Beijing China: The Necessity for PM(10) Pollution Indemnity

Severe health risks caused by PM(10) (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm) pollution have induced inevitable economic losses and have rendered pressure on the sustainable development of society as a whole. In China, with the “Polluters Pay Principle”, polluters should pay for the pollution they have caused, but how much they should pay remains an intractable problem for policy makers. This paper integrated an epidemiological exposure-response model with economics methods, including the Amended Human Capital (AHC) approach and the Cost of Illness (COI) method, to value the economic loss of PM(10)-related health risks in 16 districts and also 4 functional zones in Beijing from 2008 to 2012. The results show that from 2008 to 2012 the estimated annual deaths caused by PM(10) in Beijing are around 56,000, 58,000, 63,000, 61,000 and 59,000, respectively, while the economic losses related to health damage increased from around 23 to 31 billion dollars that PM(10) polluters should pay for pollution victims between 2008 and 2012. It is illustrated that not only PM(10) concentration but also many other social economic factors influence PM(10)-related health economic losses, which makes health economic losses show a time lag discrepancy compared with the decline of PM(10) concentration. In conclusion, health economic loss evaluation is imperative in the pollution indemnity system establishment and should be considered for the urban planning and policy making to control the burgeoning PM(10) health economic loss.