Identity and the Value of Health

This paper argues about the importance to reflect on what constitutes the identity of an economic agent within the perspective of health valuing. Our main claim is that the valuation of health states depends on what makes up the identity of the economic agent. We argue that within the social choice model of normative analysis, the valuation of health states is necessarily done by evaluating how they bear on individuals' well-being. We establish two conditions for identity indicating that individuals' well-being is dependent on their identity. This establishes that identity is relevant for determining the value of health. As a consequence, we suggest that a pathology directly affecting individuals' identity is distinctively significant in a normative perspective.