JavaScript is Disabled
Your browser's JavaScript functionality is disabled. It has to be enabled to use this function of ConfTool.
Here you can find information on how to enable JavaScript
If you have any problems, please contact the organizers at programme@wcere2026.org.

Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Aug 2026, 01:48:40am WEST

External resources will be made available 30 min before a session starts. You may have to reload the page to access the resources.

Daily Overview

Session

Valuing Health and Mortality
Location: D-105
Session Chair: Thi Hoang Hieu Nguyen, CERGE-EI

Presentation 1

Valuing mental and physical health in the UK: Evidence on the disutility of Depression, Anxiety, Lower Back Pain and Obesity

Eleanor Eaton, Alistair Hunt

University of Bath, UK, United Kingdom

Discussant: Ao Liu (Kyoto University)

In November 2022 we surveyed 1,500 adults in the UK, asking them about their willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid the symptoms of depression and lower back pain using a two-way payment ladder approach. An important feature of that study was that respondents appeared to value mental and physical health outcomes differently, even as their WTP appeared to be proportional to variations in the severity and duration of the condition. Analysis of motivation appeared to suggest that perceived lack of access to effective treatment for mental health conditions may explain in part this variation.

In July 2025 we conducted a second wave of this survey with a larger sample of 4,000 UK adults, but extended the methodology to add more health outcomes (obesity and anxiety) and to test WTP using an alternative, dichotomous choice elicitation method. Results from this second wave indicate the same responsiveness to the scope and duration of disease, and again appear to rate the quality of life impact of depression as larger than lower back pain. Overall WTP values per case are slightly higher than those found in our earlier study. Obesity is valued similarly to depression, whereas anxiety is valued the lowest of the four conditions. Overall mental health conditions are valued similarly to physical health conditions, but this is not consistent with the magnitude of the impact on quality of life. Responses suggest that preferences are influenced by perceptions of some conditions as only treatable through personal agency.