Bibliographic review of socio economic effects of environmental noise for public policies in Chile

Abstract

The Ministry of Environment of Chile is currently updating the public policies that regulate noise mainly from industrial sources. For this reason, a background record of studies that describe the benefits and socioeconomic effects of noise in the population is needed. Through a bibliographic review it was possible to identify a variety of benefits and effects in the economy, health and social ambit, as well as new investigation lines that take in consideration the mental health and non favorable socioeconomic conditions (economic inequality, racial and ethnic problems). The different works analyzed include the recent systematic reviews for the elaboration of the "Environmental noise guidelines for the European Region" of the World Health Organization, a series of works mainly of European origin and two Latin American economic studies. Finally, due to the low regulation in Latin American countries regarding noise, it is possible that these problems are greater than those reported in developed countries and therefore their study is of interest to create or apply other public policies in the region to a greater extent.