Abstract
This paper examines the impact of health status, and of experienced disutility caused by air pollution, on individuals' preferences regarding the health risk reductions resulting from air quality improvement. We investigate if changes in the level of experienced disutility due to air pollution mediate the relationship between individuals' respiratory health status and their preferences regarding health risk reductions. For this purpose, we conducted a choice experiment study among inhabitants of four big Polish cities that have varying levels of particulate matter pollution. We used the modified Medical Research Council breathlessness scale, verified in clinical trials, to obtain information about respondents’ health status, except for usually applied health status measures in stated preference surveys. We do not find any direct impact of health status (apart from smoking) on willingness to pay for air quality improvement. Our results indicate, however, that individuals who self-reported a respiratory diagnosis, as well as those who scored high on the breathlessness scale, are more likely to display a latent trait indicating experienced disutility due to air pollution, and that those who experience this disutility are, in general, more in favour of air quality improvement programmes.
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