Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pinning Down The Value Of Statistical Life, Thomas J. Kniesner, W. Kip Viscusi, Christopher Woock, James P. Ziliak

Center for Policy Research

Our research addresses fundamental long-standing concerns in the compensating wage differentials literature and its public policy implications: the econometric properties of estimates of the value of statistical life (VSL) and the wide range of such estimates from about $0.5 million to about $21 million. We address most of the prominent econometric issues by applying panel data, a new and more accurate fatality risk measure, and systematic selection of panel estimator in our research. Controlling for measurement error, endogeneity, individual heterogeneity, and state dependence yields both a reasonable average level and narrow range for the estimated value of a statistical life …