https://www-nber-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/system/files/working_papers/w19494/w19494.pdf

Read the provided article, based on that evaluate this scenario and answer following questions.

Alex is visiting Senator Schanzenbach's office for a meeting. The senator's staff declined to share an agenda with Alex in advance and Alex is curious to know what's on his mind. After the senator welcomes Alex to his office, he gets right to the point. The U.S. Senate is concerned that the Ebola epidemic raging in Western Africa will spread to America as well. According to Senator Schanzenbach, most senators are worried about the potential loss of American lives and have asked consulting companies like Kurana to come up with estimates based on the probable spread of the disease, the mortality rate, and the value of statistical life in the US. Senator Schanzenbach laughs nervously and notes that he's a little uncomfortable with the idea of quantifying the value of a person's life but says that he's trying his best to wrap his head around the idea. He is hopeful that a thoughtful and well-researched report will result in bipartisan support for a bill providing more U.S. aid for fighting infectious disease in Africa. Senator Schanzenbach has an additional question he needs Alex to investigate: Are there differences in the value of life of people who live in different countries? He asks Alex to provide a short brief on the subject. She knows that the senator will likely use her findings to argue for an increase in U.S. and international aid to those countries affected by the Ebola epidemic. The answers to the senator's questions will have a significant policy impact. As Alex leaves the senator's office, she wonders where to start.... Alex decides that using the human capital approach would deliver miniscule numbers for the value of lives of people living in developing countries. She decides to pursue an approach based on the willingness-to-pay method. But where to find data on people's willingness to pay to reduce the risk of death in an African country? Thanks to a more senior colleague, Alex found a published paper by Leon and Miguel using choice of mode of transportation to Sierra Leone's airport that could do the job. She was relieved to discover that travelers from African countries did not assign a much lower value to their own lives than travelers from Western Europe and North America assigned to theirs.

Question:

whether you think the approach they discuss is reasonable. Why or why not? How can the senator use these numbers to argue for larger U.S. aid for improving health in developing countries?