Macroeconomics 6th Edition by Robert Hall,Marc Lieberman

Exercise 10

Evaluate the following statement: "If the dollar values in Table 1 are accurate, it follows that providing meningococcal vaccines to all adolescents would be cheaper than installing seat belts on all school buses." True or false? Explain.
Table 1 The Cost of Saving Lives
Note: Author calculations used to adjust results to 2010 dollars, and (for a few studies) from cost per life saved to cost per life-year saved.
Sources: Tammy O. Tengs et al. (1995) "Five hundred life-saving interventions and their cost effectiveness," Risk Analysis 15 (3); Malcolm Law and Jin Ling Tan (October 1995) "An analysis of the effectiveness of interventions intended to help people stop smoking," Archives of Internal Medicine 155 (18); Jerry Cromwell et al. (1997) "Cost-effectiveness of the clinical practice recommendations in the AHCPR guideline for smoking cessation," Journal of the American Medical Association 278 (21); P. A. Gearhart and A. R. Wuerz (October 1997) "Cost-effectiveness analysis of helicopter EMS for trauma patients," Annals of Emergency Medicine 30 (4); W. Kip Viscusi (February 2006) "Regulation of health, safety and environmental risks," Harvard John M. Olin Discussion Paper Series , Discussion Paper No. 544; Ellen J. McKenzie et al. (July 2010) "The value of trauma center care," Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection Critical Care 69(1):1-10; S. K. Datta et al. (August 2010) "Economic analysis of a tailored behavioral intervention to improve blood pressure control for primary care patients," American Heart Journal 160 (2) (results for men and women have been averaged); Colin W. Shephard et al. (May 2005) "Cost-effectiveness of conjugate meningococcal vaccination strategies in the United States," Pediatrics 115 (5); "Proposed rules: Required warnings for cigarette packages and advertisements," Federal Register, Nov 12, 2010.