This model is used to simulate conditions without CWA controls and to measure the associated changes in water quality. Benefit transfer models have also been developed to estimate the value of water quality improvements through enhanced water-based recreation and through reduced health risks from fish consumption. There is a growing awareness of the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment and the potential for the chemicals to adversely affect the reproductive health of humans and wildlife.
Infertility is one of the potential health outcomes of concern.
By focusing on couples' childbearing decisions and preferences, another important objective of this project has been to incorporate new models of intrahousehold decision making into the measurement of nonmarket values. Although proponents of tropical forest protection claim that it generates several ecosystem benefits, few studies have attempted to quantify the nature and extent of these benefits. RTI economists have collaborated with researchers from Duke University, NCSU and US Forest to addresses the neglected, but critical, question of the economic importance of protected tropical forests to farming communities in Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Philippines. Ecosystem services include drought and flood mitigation, soil conservation, and natural insurance. A household production framework is used to analyze farm households' passive or active use and valuation of forests and micro-econometrics is used to test for systematic patterns of economic dependence on forests in household survey data sets.