The Value of a Statistical Life: A Critical Review of Market Estimates throughout the World

Viscusi, W. Kip; Aldy, Joseph E.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.362840

Cited by 339 publications

(481 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…The earlier estimate was itself an inflation-adjusted update of EPA’s earlier assumption of $4.8 million in 1990 dollars. All these figures fit within the relatively wide range of $4 to $9 million implied by U.S. labor market data on wage differentials associated with mortality risks (Viscusi and Aldy, 2003). …”

Section: Estimating the Economic Costs Of War-related Injury And Dsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…The loss of a limb, for example, reduces future earnings but also probably reduces enjoyment of leisure activities, a harm that would persist even after lost earnings were recouped. In modern periods, estimates of the willingness to pay to avoid death or a particular injury, called the value of a statistical life (VSL) and the value of a statistical injury (VSI), are much larger than is implied by the capitalized value of lost future wages (Viscusi, 1993; Viscusi and Aldy, 2003). From this perspective, the economic costs of deaths and injuries depend on the VSL and VSI.…”

Section: Estimating the Economic Costs Of War-related Injury And Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two prior studies systematically assess how the VSL varies over space and time. Viscusi and Aldy (2003) conduct a meta-review of the literature on the VSL in U.S. labor market studies since the 1960s and in a cross section of countries. They estimate the income elasticity of the VSL, η V SL , in the range of 0.5 to 0.6.…”

Section: Estimating the Economic Costs Of War-related Injury And Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

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U.S. war costs: Two parts temporary, one part permanent

Edwards

2014

Journal of Public Economics

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Military spending, fatalities, and the destruction of capital, all of which are immediately felt and are often large, are the most overt costs of war. They are also relatively short-lived. But the costs of war borne by combatants and their caretakers, which includes families, communities, and the modern welfare state, tend instead to be lifelong. In this paper I show that a significant component of the budgetary costs associated with U.S. wars is long-lived. One third to one half of the total present value of historical war costs are benefits distributed over the remaining life spans of veterans and their dependents. Even thirty years after the end of hostilities, typically half of all benefits remain to be paid. Estimates of the costs of injuries and deaths suggest that the private burden of war borne by survivors, namely the uncompensated costs of service-related injuries, are also large and long-lived.

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Section: Estimating the Economic Costs Of War-related Injury And Dsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Estimating the Economic Costs Of War-related Injury And Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Estimating the Economic Costs Of War-related Injury And Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

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U.S. war costs: Two parts temporary, one part permanent

Edwards

2014

Journal of Public Economics

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“…The human capital approach (HCA) takes an ‘employee perspective’ and estimates the productivity losses over an expected working lifetime, irrespective of whether an individual dies from the risk factor and/or an employer can replace the worker 13. Finally, a value of a statistical life (VSL) approach monetises an average or ‘statistical’ life lost 14. The key difference of a VSL approach is that it seeks to value life lost as opposed to estimating the productivity costs incurred.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The economic burden of physical inactivity: a systematic review and critical appraisal

et al. 2017

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Objective To summarise the literature on the economic burden of physical inactivity in populations, with emphases on appraising the methodologies and providing recommendations for future studies. Design Systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses guidelines (PROSPERO registration number CRD42016047705). Data sources Electronic databases for peer-reviewed and grey literature were systematically searched, followed by reference searching and consultation with experts. Eligibility criteria Studies that examined the economic consequences of physical inactivity in a population/population-based sample, with clearly stated methodologies and at least an abstract/summary written in English. Results Of the 40 eligible studies, 27 focused on direct healthcare costs only, 13 also estimated indirect costs and one study additionally estimated household costs. For direct costs, 23 studies used a population attributable fraction (PAF) approach with estimated healthcare costs attributable to physical inactivity ranging from 0.3% to 4.6% of national healthcare expenditure; 17 studies used an econometric approach, which tended to yield higher estimates than those using a PAF approach. For indirect costs, 10 studies used a human capital approach, two used a friction cost approach and one used a value of a statistical life approach. Overall, estimates varied substantially, even within the same country, depending on analytical approaches, time frame and other methodological considerations. Conclusion Estimating the economic burden of physical inactivity is an area of increasing importance that requires further development. There is a marked lack of consistency in methodological approaches and transparency of reporting. Future studies could benefit from cross-disciplinary collaborations involving economists and physical activity experts, taking a societal perspective and following best practices in conducting and reporting analysis, including accounting for potential confounding, reverse causality and comorbidity, applying discounting and sensitivity analysis, and reporting assumptions, limitations and justifications for approaches taken. We have adapted the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards checklist as a guide for future estimates of the economic burden of physical inactivity and other risk factors. InTRODuCTIOnPhysical inactivity is a global pandemic. Every year, physical inactivity causes more than 5 million deaths 1 and costs billions of dollars to societies around the world.2 To date, many countries have developed national physical activity plans; however, few have been fully implemented. 3 The substantial gap between policy and implementation may be due to a lack of resources, cross-sectoral partnership and clear strategies. Public health responses to address the pandemic of physical inactivity remain inadequate, uncoordinated and underfunded. 3 Economic analysis is essential to bridging the policy-implementation gap, increasing politica...

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“…We adjusted the value of a DALY to reflect the expected below-average lifetime income of AHT victims had they not been victimized. Specifically, we adjusted the estimates using an income elasticity of 0.47 from Viscusi and Aldy (2003), as recommended by Hammitt and Robinson (2011). Following guidelines from the Second Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine (Neumann et al 2016), we showed work and DALY losses separately.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifetime Cost of Abusive Head Trauma at Ages 0–4, USA

Miller

Steinbeigle²,

Lawrence

et al. 2017

Prev Sci

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This paper aims to estimate lifetime costs resulting from abusive head trauma (AHT) in the USA and the break-even effectiveness for prevention. A mathematical model incorporated data from Vital Statistics, the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database, and previous studies. Unit costs were derived from published sources. From society’s perspective, discounted lifetime cost of an AHT averages $5.7 million (95% CI $3.2–9.2 million) for a death. It averages $2.6 million (95% CI $1.0–2.9 million) for a surviving AHT victim including $224,500 for medical care and related direct costs (2010 USD). The estimated 4824 incident AHT cases in 2010 had an estimated lifetime cost of $13.5 billion (95% CI $5.5–16.2 billion) including $257 million for medical care, $552 million for special education, $322 million for child protective services/criminal justice, $2.0 billion for lost work, and $10.3 billion for lost quality of life. Government sources paid an estimated $1.3 billion. Out-of-pocket benefits of existing prevention programming would exceed its costs if it prevents 2% of cases. When a child survives AHT, providers and caregivers can anticipate a lifetime of potentially costly and life-threatening care needs. Better effectiveness estimates are needed for both broad prevention messaging and intensive prevention targeting high-risk caregivers.

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The Value of a Statistical Life: A Critical Review of Market Estimates throughout the World

Cited by 339 publications

References 95 publications

U.S. war costs: Two parts temporary, one part permanent

U.S. war costs: Two parts temporary, one part permanent

The economic burden of physical inactivity: a systematic review and critical appraisal

Lifetime Cost of Abusive Head Trauma at Ages 0–4, USA

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