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Standards of public policy would markedly improve if decision-makers had reliable estimates on which to base the costs and benefits of public programmes. But that would require a greater number of more reliable conclusions on what economic value the benefits of such programmes actually bore for the communities concerned. One of the main 'products' of many programmes is reduced likelihood of illness or early death in the community concerned; i. e. they spare suffering or save lives. That is indeed what some environmental protection and public health programmes and some transport-safety investments promise to do.