Loss and Benefit Caused by a Diesel Engine: From the Perspective of Human Health

Summary This article presents a model that quantifies the health loss and benefit triggered by the life cycle of a diesel engine. The health loss and benefit are expressed in the form of disability‐adjusted life years (DALY), a metric used by the World Health Organization to conduct health impact assessments. In order to quantify the health loss, life cycle assessment methodology is applied. To estimate the health benefit, the relationship between DALY per capita and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is modeled. The change in GDP per capita, resulting from the change in the level of employee compensation caused by the life cycle of the diesel engine, is used to estimate the change in the level of DALY per capita. An economic input‐output model is applied to estimate the amount of employee compensation required over the life cycle of the diesel engine. This study concludes that the health benefit achieved by the socioeconomic growth, triggered by the life cycle of the diesel engine, is higher than the health loss caused by the pollutions produced over the life cycle of the diesel engine. Furthermore, the results support findings in the literature that socioeconomic growth generates a higher health benefit in a lower‐income country than in a higher‐income country. This also might be one of the reasons for another statement found in the literature that developing countries put higher priorities on economic development.