Pricing Lives

Pricing Lives PDF Author: W. Kip Viscusi
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120859X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
How society’s undervaluing of life puts all of us at risk—and the groundbreaking economic measure that can fix it Like it or not, sometimes we need to put a monetary value on people's lives. In the past, government agencies used the financial "cost of death" to monetize the mortality risks of regulatory policies, but this method vastly undervalued life. Pricing Lives tells the story of how the government came to adopt an altogether different approach--the value of a statistical life, or VSL—and persuasively shows how its more widespread use could create a safer and more equitable society for everyone. In the 1980s, W. Kip Viscusi used the method to demonstrate that the benefits of requiring businesses to label hazardous chemicals immensely outweighed the costs. VSL is the risk-reward trade-off that people make about their health when considering risky job choices. With it, Viscusi calculated how much more money workers would demand to take on hazardous jobs, boosting calculated benefits by an order of magnitude. His current estimate of the value of a statistical life is $10 million. In this book, Viscusi provides a comprehensive look at all aspects of economic and policy efforts to price lives, including controversial topics such as whether older people's lives are worth less and richer people's lives are worth more. He explains why corporations need to abandon the misguided cost-of-death approach, how the courts can profit from increased application of VSL in assessing liability and setting damages, and how other countries consistently undervalue risks to life. Pricing Lives proposes sensible economic guideposts to foster more protective policies and greater levels of safety in the United States and throughout the world.

Pricing Lives

Pricing Lives PDF Author: W. Kip Viscusi
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120859X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
How society’s undervaluing of life puts all of us at risk—and the groundbreaking economic measure that can fix it Like it or not, sometimes we need to put a monetary value on people's lives. In the past, government agencies used the financial "cost of death" to monetize the mortality risks of regulatory policies, but this method vastly undervalued life. Pricing Lives tells the story of how the government came to adopt an altogether different approach--the value of a statistical life, or VSL—and persuasively shows how its more widespread use could create a safer and more equitable society for everyone. In the 1980s, W. Kip Viscusi used the method to demonstrate that the benefits of requiring businesses to label hazardous chemicals immensely outweighed the costs. VSL is the risk-reward trade-off that people make about their health when considering risky job choices. With it, Viscusi calculated how much more money workers would demand to take on hazardous jobs, boosting calculated benefits by an order of magnitude. His current estimate of the value of a statistical life is $10 million. In this book, Viscusi provides a comprehensive look at all aspects of economic and policy efforts to price lives, including controversial topics such as whether older people's lives are worth less and richer people's lives are worth more. He explains why corporations need to abandon the misguided cost-of-death approach, how the courts can profit from increased application of VSL in assessing liability and setting damages, and how other countries consistently undervalue risks to life. Pricing Lives proposes sensible economic guideposts to foster more protective policies and greater levels of safety in the United States and throughout the world.

Fatal Tradeoffs

Fatal Tradeoffs PDF Author: W. Kip Viscusi
Publisher:
ISBN: 019535608X
Category : Decision making
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description


Evaluating the Validity of the Value of Statistical Life

Evaluating the Validity of the Value of Statistical Life PDF Author: Elissa Cohen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) captures the trade-offs people are willing to make to reduce the probability of death. While VSL is used by policymakers to assess safety regulations, questions remain about how to estimate it. First, VSL estimates from labor contexts are used to assess non-labor regulations, which may not be justifiable if people value risk mitigation differently across contexts. Second, VSL estimates vary by measurement approach (revealed (RP) vs. stated preferences (SP)), reflecting different underlying assumptions about how people appraise risk in decision-making. To address the context stability question, I conduct the first within-subjects multi-condition discrete choice experiment soliciting SP in labor, health, and transportation contexts. People's health VSL are significantly larger than their labor or transportation VSL, suggesting regulators may be underestimating people's willingness to pay for safety regulation in health care. To address the measurement approach question, I solicit employment history from the same subjects and test for differences between people's RP and SP in the labor market. Though the point estimates differ considerably, the hypothesis that people's labor market RP and SP are the same cannot be rejected. This provides some support for claims that SP studies may serve as meaningful complements or substitutes when conducting non-market valuations.

Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution

Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309177855
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
In light of recent evidence on the relationship of ozone to mortality and questions about its implications for benefit analysis, the Environmental Protection Agency asked the National Research Council to establish a committee of experts to evaluate independently the contributions of recent epidemiologic studies to understanding the size of the ozone-mortality effect in the context of benefit analysis. The committee was also asked to assess methods for estimating how much a reduction in short-term exposure to ozone would reduce premature deaths, to assess methods for estimating associated increases in life expectancy, and to assess methods for estimating the monetary value of the reduced risk of premature death and increased life expectancy in the context of health-benefits analysis. Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution details the committee's findings and posits several recommendations to address these issues.

Value of Statistical Life in India

Value of Statistical Life in India PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788177912630
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description


Estimating the Value of a Statistical Life

Estimating the Value of a Statistical Life PDF Author: Orley Ashenfelter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile driving
Languages : en
Pages : 12

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Book Description
In this paper we show that omitted variables and publication bias lead to severely biased estimates of the value of a statistical life. Although our empirical results are obtained in the context of a study of choices about road safety, we suspect that the same issues plague the estimation of monetary trade-offs regarding safety in other contexts.

Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa

Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309180090
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
In sub-Saharan Africa, older people make up a relatively small fraction of the total population and are supported primarily by family and other kinship networks. They have traditionally been viewed as repositories of information and wisdom, and are critical pillars of the community but as the HIV/AIDS pandemic destroys family systems, the elderly increasingly have to deal with the loss of their own support while absorbing the additional responsibilities of caring for their orphaned grandchildren. Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa explores ways to promote U.S. research interests and to augment the sub-Saharan governments' capacity to address the many challenges posed by population aging. Five major themes are explored in the book such as the need for a basic definition of "older person," the need for national governments to invest more in basic research and the coordination of data collection across countries, and the need for improved dialogue between local researchers and policy makers. This book makes three major recommendations: 1) the development of a research agenda 2) enhancing research opportunity and implementation and 3) the translation of research findings.

The Value of a Statistical Life

The Value of a Statistical Life PDF Author: W. Kip Viscusi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Casualty insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
A substantial literature over the past thirty years has evaluated tradeoffs between money and fatality risks. These values in turn serve as estimates of the value of a statistical life. This article reviews more than 60 studies of mortality risk premiums from ten countries and approximately 40 studies that present estimates of injury risk premiums. This critical review examines a variety of econometric issues, the role of unionization in risk premiums, and the effects of age on the value of a statistical life. Our meta-analysis indicates an income elasticity of the value of a statistical life from about 0.5 to 0.6. The paper also presents a detailed discussion of policy applications of these value of a statistical life estimates and related issues, including risk-risk analysis

Designing Household Survey Questionnaires for Developing Countries : Lessons from 15 Years of the Living Standards Measurement Study

Designing Household Survey Questionnaires for Developing Countries : Lessons from 15 Years of the Living Standards Measurement Study PDF Author: Margaret E. Grosh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Developing countries
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Comprehensive and informative document on the design, implementation, and use of household surveys in developing countries.

Introduction to Small Area Estimation Techniques

Introduction to Small Area Estimation Techniques PDF Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292622234
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
This guide to small area estimation aims to help users compile more reliable granular or disaggregated data in cost-effective ways. It explains small area estimation techniques with examples of how the easily accessible R analytical platform can be used to implement them, particularly to estimate indicators on poverty, employment, and health outcomes. The guide is intended for staff of national statistics offices and for other development practitioners. It aims to help them to develop and implement targeted socioeconomic policies to ensure that the vulnerable segments of societies are not left behind, and to monitor progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.