Monetary Valuation of PM10-Related Health Risks in Beijing China: The Necessity for PM10 Pollution Indemnity

Severe health risks caused by PM10 (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 PM10-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 PM10 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 PM10 polluters should pay for pollution victims between 2008 and 2012. It is illustrated that not only PM10 concentration but also many other social economic factors influence PM10-related health economic losses, which makes health economic losses show a time lag discrepancy compared with the decline of PM10 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 PM10 health economic loss.