When is a Man's Life Worth More Than His Human Capital
dc.contributor.author | Bergstrom, Theodore C. | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2013-11-14T23:23:04Z | |
dc.date.available | 2013-11-14T23:23:04Z | |
dc.date.issued | 1981-08 | en_US |
dc.identifier.other | MichU DeptE CenREST RSQE C10 | en_US |
dc.identifier.other | J170 | en_US |
dc.identifier.other | J240 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/101103 | |
dc.description.abstract | In this paper we use a simple one-period choice model to remove some of the sting from the paradox of pricing the priceless. We show that there is a simply described, though less easily measured concept of the "value of life" that is appropriate for measuring the benefits or costs of a broad class of public projects that save or expend human lives. this value can be decomposed in a simple way into the direct and pecuniary effects of a change in survival probability. The pecuniary effects, which are the consequence of the effects of a change in survival probability on the budget, can be related in a simple way to the human capital, net output, and insurance measures. We are able to find a reasonably easily interpreted condition on preferences that determines whether a man's human capital is too large or too small a value to place on a life saved. We argue that the presence of interpersonal benevolence would not in general imply that lives saved should be valued more highly than in a selfish world. Finally, we consider a model of private safety in which actuarially fair insurance is unavailable. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | Center for Research on Economic and Social Theory, Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics, Department of Economics, University of Michigan | en_US |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | Discussion Paper | en_US |
dc.subject | Value of Life | en_US |
dc.subject | Benefit Cost | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Value of Life | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Forgone Income | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Human Capital | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Skills | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Occupational Choice | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Labor Productivity | en_US |
dc.title | When is a Man's Life Worth More Than His Human Capital | en_US |
dc.type | Working Paper | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Economics | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Social Sciences | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101103/1/ECON087.pdf | |
dc.owningcollname | Economics, Department of - Working Papers Series |
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