Sunday, October 10, 2010

Economics of Human Life

Collectively, the choices we make can allow researchers to put prices on items we might normally be uncomfortable valuing. Here's how much we value our life:
Value of life issues traditionally pertain to insurance of the losses of accident victims, for which replacement of the economic loss is often an appropriate concept. Deterrence measures of the value of life focus on risk-money tradeoffs involving small changes in risk. Using market data for risky jobs and product risk contexts often yields substantial estimates of the value of life in the range of $3 million to $9 million. These estimates are useful in providing guidance for regulatory policy and assessments of liability.

5 comments:

  1. Part of why economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. :)

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  2. Yes, but this isn't the price economists put on life. It uses the data on subjects measuring their own values.

    A better way to say it:

    Economists recognize that everything has a price, so they can understand the value of everything.

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  3. All I read was "yes."

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  4. You think economists have a worse way of understanding value. I just think it's different (and maybe better).

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You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.