The economic dimensions of interpersonal violence - libdoc.who.int ...

THE ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE5. ConclusionThis report has reviewed the literature related to the economic causes andconsequences of interpersonal violence. The literature varied both in terms ofthe subject matter addressed and the methodologies employed. This concludingsection of the report identifies the main areas of difference among the studiesand important gaps in existing research, and points the way forward to apreliminary research agenda that would standardize definitions, concepts andmethodologies across economic, cultural and social settings.5.1 Methodological issuesThe most evident methodological difference among studies of the economiceffects of interpersonal violence was the broad range of categories of costsemployed. Many of the differences in economic estimates were due to theinclusion or exclusion of specific categories of costs, rather than to differentapproaches towards counting costs.Another significant difference among studies was the perspective from whichcosts were calculated. The majority of studies used a societal perspective - inprinciple including all costs and benefits. Several studies, however, included onlycosts to the victims, without counting the social costs of prevention, lawenforcement, incarceration and lost productivity. Additionally, the rate used todiscount future costs and benefits ranged from 2.0% to 10% among the studiesreported here (see Chapter 1 for more detail).There are several other important methodological issues that differed across thestudies reviewed in this report. Principal among these were the values assignedto human life, lost productive time and psychological distress. The value of lifehas been calculated using lost wages, estimates of the quality of life, wagepremiums for risky jobs, willingness to pay for safety measures and individualbehaviours related to safety measures. The values used among studies based inthe USA ranged from $3.1 million to $6.8 million (Box 1).Quantification of the economic costs in terms of lost human capital is thepredominant approach towards the economic evaluation of interpersonalviolence and other public health problems and interventions - but this techniqueis not uncontroversial. By valuing lost time, whether due to incapacitation or tomortality, in terms of potential earnings lost the human capital approach appliesa free market to value human life. As a consequence, in a straight comparison,violence that kills or maims residents of high-income countries would be42