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The Social Cost of Informal Electronic Waste Processing in Southern China Boardman, Anthony; Geng, Jeff; Lam, Bruno

Abstract

Large amounts of e-waste are processed “informally” in lower income countries. Such processing releases dangerous pollutants, which increase mortality and reduce cognitive functioning. This paper estimates the social cost of informal e-waste processing in Southern China. This parameter may be “plugged-in” to cost-benefit analyses that evaluate the economic efficiency of policies to reduce informal e-waste processing in China or other lower income countries. It may also be used in the estimation of the social benefits (or costs) of new or proposed e-waste processing policies in higher income countries. We estimate that the social cost of informal e-waste processing in Guiyu is about $529 million. This amount is equivalent to about $423 per tonne (in 2018 US dollars) or $3528 per person, which is over half the gross income per capita of the residents of Guiyu. We also perform sensitivity analysis that varies the estimated mortality outcomes, the value of a statistical life and the amount of e-waste processed.

Item Metadata

Title
The Social Cost of Informal Electronic Waste Processing in Southern China
Creator
Boardman, Anthony; Geng, Jeff; Lam, Bruno
Contributor
University of British Columbia. Centre for Social Innovation & Impact Investing
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued
2020-02-05
Description
Large amounts of e-waste are processed “informally” in lower income countries. Such processing releases dangerous pollutants, which increase mortality and reduce cognitive functioning. This paper estimates the social cost of informal e-waste processing in Southern China. This parameter may be “plugged-in” to cost-benefit analyses that evaluate the economic efficiency of policies to reduce informal e-waste processing in China or other lower income countries. It may also be used in the estimation of the social benefits (or costs) of new or proposed e-waste processing policies in higher income countries. We estimate that the social cost of informal e-waste processing in Guiyu is about $529 million. This amount is equivalent to about $423 per tonne (in 2018 US dollars) or $3528 per person, which is over half the gross income per capita of the residents of Guiyu. We also perform sensitivity analysis that varies the estimated mortality outcomes, the value of a statistical life and the amount of e-waste processed.
Subject
social cost; cost-benefit analysis; electronic waste processing; shadow price
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2020-03-27
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
CC BY 4.0
DOI
10.14288/1.0389652
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/73817
Affiliation
Business, Sauder School of
Citation
Administrative Sciences 10 (1): 7 (2020)
Publisher DOI
10.3390/admsci10010007
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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CC BY 4.0