IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i16p9428-d619561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Universal Metrics for Climate Change Adaptation Finance? A Cautionary Tale

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Klonschinski

    (Faculty of Philosophy, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany)

Abstract

Climate change adaptation is receiving ever more attention in the literature and in practice. Since available funds are not meeting adaptation needs, the question of how to allocate scarce resources becomes pressing. Universal adaptation metrics promise to facilitate the allocation process ex ante and the evaluation of projects ex post. Two such metrics have been proposed recently: Saved Wealth (SW), measured in terms of money, and Saved Health (SH), gauged in terms of disability adjusted life-years (DALYs). The paper analyzes this SWSH approach and shows that it is replete with unresolved conceptual and normative-ethical problems, which are exemplary for universal metrics seeking to combine concerns for equity and efficiency at once. The paper’s aim is to uncover these issues, and its conclusion is modest: universal metrics such as SW and the DALY have to be designed and used with great caution and further research is necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Klonschinski, 2021. "Universal Metrics for Climate Change Adaptation Finance? A Cautionary Tale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9428-:d:619561
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9428/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9428/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Drummond, Michael F. & Sculpher, Mark J. & Torrance, George W. & O'Brien, Bernie J. & Stoddart, Greg L., 2005. "Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198529453.
    2. Martin Stadelmann & Åsa Persson & Izabela Ratajczak-Juszko & Axel Michaelowa, 2014. "Equity and cost-effectiveness of multilateral adaptation finance: are they friends or foes?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 101-120, May.
    3. Hansson, Sven Ove, 2007. "Philosophical Problems In Cost–Benefit Analysis," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 163-183, July.
    4. Alan Williams, 1999. "Calculating the global burden of disease: time for a strategic reappraisal?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, February.
    5. Carl Lyttkens, 2003. "Time to disable DALYs?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 4(3), pages 195-202, September.
    6. Arnesen, Trude & Kapiriri, Lydia, 2004. "Can the value choices in DALYs influence global priority-setting?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 137-149, November.
    7. Anand, Sudhir & Hanson, Kara, 1998. "DALYs: efficiency versus equity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 307-310, February.
    8. Richardson, Jeff & McKie, John, 2007. "Economic evaluation of services for a National Health Scheme: The case for a fairness-based framework," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 785-799, July.
    9. Richardson, J., 1994. "Cost utility analysis: What should be measured?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 7-21, July.
    10. Nord, Erik, 2013. "Disability weights in the Global Burden of Disease 2010: Unclear meaning and overstatement of international agreement," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 99-104.
    11. Paavola, Jouni & Adger, W. Neil, 2006. "Fair adaptation to climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 594-609, April.
    12. Anand, Sudhir & Hanson, Kara, 1997. "Disability-adjusted life years: a critical review," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 685-702, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Merwan Engineer & Nilanjana Roy & Sari Fink, 2010. "“Healthy” Human Development Indices," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 61-80, October.
    2. Stein, Alexander J. & Meenakshi, J.V. & Qaim, Matin & Nestel, Penelope & Sachdev, H.P.S. & Bhutta, Zulfiqar A., 2008. "Potential impacts of iron biofortification in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1797-1808, April.
    3. Mariana Conte Grand, 2014. "Simple Analytics of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 545, Universidad del CEMA.
    4. Mara Airoldi & Alec Morton, 2009. "Adjusting life for quality or disability: stylistic difference or substantial dispute?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(11), pages 1237-1247, November.
    5. Marcello Basili & Filippo Belloc, 2015. "How To Measure The Economic Impact Of Vector-Borne Diseases At Country Level," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 896-916, December.
    6. Carl Lyttkens, 2003. "Time to disable DALYs?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 4(3), pages 195-202, September.
    7. Stein, Alexander J. & Meenakshi, J.V. & Qaim, Matin & Nestel, Penelope & Sachdev, H.P.S. & Bhutta, Zulfiqar A., 2005. "Health benefits of biofortification - an ex-ante analysis of iron-rich rice and wheat in India," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19468, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Magdalena Muszyńska-Spielauer & Marc Luy, 2022. "Well-Being Adjusted Health Expectancy: A New Summary Measure of Population Health," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 1009-1031, December.
    9. Arnesen, Trude & Kapiriri, Lydia, 2004. "Can the value choices in DALYs influence global priority-setting?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 137-149, November.
    10. David Canning, 2006. "The Economics of HIV/AIDS in Low-Income Countries: The Case for Prevention," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 121-142, Summer.
    11. repec:ags:aaea22:335948 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Sudhir Anand & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2019. "The Construction Of The Daly: Implications And Anomalies," Economics Series Working Papers 877, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    13. Jeppsson, Anders & Okuonzi, Sam Agatre & Ostergren, Per-Olof & Hagstrom, Bo, 2004. "Using burden of disease/cost-effectiveness as an instrument for district health planning: experiences from Uganda," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 261-270, December.
    14. Paul F M Krabbe, 2013. "A Generalized Measurement Model to Quantify Health: The Multi-Attribute Preference Response Model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-12, November.
    15. Amartya Sen, 2002. "Why health equity?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(8), pages 659-666, December.
    16. Mitchell, Paul Mark & Roberts, Tracy E. & Barton, Pelham M. & Coast, Joanna, 2015. "Assessing sufficient capability: A new approach to economic evaluation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 71-79.
    17. Barrientos, Armando & Gorman, Mark & Heslop, Amanda, 2003. "Old Age Poverty in Developing Countries: Contributions and Dependence in Later Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 555-570, March.
    18. Kapiriri, Lydia, 2013. "How effective has the essential health package been in improving priority setting in low income countries?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 38-42.
    19. Martine AUDIBERT & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Alassane DRABO, 2010. "Global Burden of Disease and Economic Growth," Working Papers 201036, CERDI.
    20. Maria Gheorghe & Werner Brouwer & Pieter Baal, 2015. "Did the health of the Dutch population improve between 2001 and 2008? Investigating age- and gender-specific trends in quality of life," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(8), pages 801-811, November.
    21. Astrid Ledgaard Holm & Lennert Veerman & Linda Cobiac & Ola Ekholm & Finn Diderichsen, 2014. "Cost-Effectiveness of Preventive Interventions to Reduce Alcohol Consumption in Denmark," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-9, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9428-:d:619561. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.