Custos de saúde associados à poluição do ar no Brasil

Abstract

This study is an attempt to determine a dose-response function which correlates air pollution concentration and mortality cases due to respiratory diseases in the city of São Paulo. Based on these econometric results, health costs with hospital expenses and output foregone due to work-day lost and premature deaths are estimated for the cities of São Paulo, Cubatão and Rio de Janeiro where this environmental problem is significant. As will be shown, although these estimated costs do not represent the full environmental costs associated with air pollution, their comparison to similar costs associated to water pollution allows one to set priorities for urban environmental policies in Brazil.