The Value of a Statistical Life for Transportation Regulations : A Test of the Benefits Transfer Methodology

Policy applications of the value of a statistical life (VSL) often make a benefits transfer assumption that the VSL from one market context is broadly applicable to other contexts as in the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s estimate of $9.1 million based on labor market estimates of VSL. This article examines whether there are any significant differences by the nature of the fatality in the labor market estimates of VSL utilizing two different approaches that distinguish transportation-related events and vehicle-related source fatalities based on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) data. The labor market estimates of VSL generalize across these two contexts so that is appropriate to use labor market estimates of VSL to value the benefits of transport regulations. This result holds even after accounting for the level and composition of nonfatal job injuries