Cardinal Scales for Health Evaluation

Abstract

Policy studies often evaluate health for an individual or for a population by using measurement scales that are ordinal scales or expected-utility scales. This paper develops scales of a different type, commonly called cardinal scales, that measure changes in health. Also, we argue that cardinal scales provide a meaningful and useful means of evaluating health policies. Thus, we develop a means of using the perspective of early neoclassical welfare economics as an alternative to ordinalist and expected-utility perspectives.