In July 2009, the WHO declared the first flu pandemic in nearly 40 years. Although the health effects of the pandemic have been studied, there is little research examining the labor productivity consequences. Using unique sick leave data from the Chilean private health insurance system, we...

Guerriero and Cairns (2009) recently estimate that contaminated sites and improper waste management result in 848 excess deaths per year in the provinces of Naples and Caserta in Southern Italy, 403 of which are fatal cancers. In the absence of estimates of the Value of a Prevented Fatality...

The Value of a Statistical Life is a key input into the calculation of the benefits of environmental policies that save lives. To date, the VSL used in environmental policy analyses has not been adjusted for age or the cause of death. Air pollution regulations, however, are linked to reductions...

Hedonic property value models are often used to place a value on localized amenities and disamenities. In practice, however, results may be affected by (i) omitted variable bias and (ii) whether homebuyers and sellers are aware of, and respond to, the assumed environmental measure. In this paper...

We report on the results of a survey based on conjoint choice experiments that was specifically designed to investigate the effect of context on the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL), an important input into the calculation of the mortality benefits of environmental policies that reduce...

This Article explains the significance in Japan, hitherto little noticed elsewhere, of criminal law in regulating medical practice. The Article offers reasons of law and social structure for criminal law's role in Japanese medicine, reasons stemming in large part from the weakness of other...

This article presents the first meta-analysis documenting the extent of publication selection biases in stated preference estimates of the value of a statistical life (VSL). Stated preference studies fail to overcome the publication biases that affect much of the VSL literature. Such biases...

Examination of estimates of the income elasticity of the value of a statistical life based on international stated preference studies yields an average between 0.94 and 1.05 overall and 0.65 and 0.80 after controlling for covariates. Quantile regression estimates indicate that the income...

In evaluating whether a proposed regulation will have net benefits, economists often conduct a cost-benefit analysis. For regulations that are likely to impact human life and safety, that can involve putting a dollar value on human lives that may be saved or lost. A common way to do this is...

The fatality risk-money tradeoff that is the value of a statistical life (VSL) may vary with the nature of the fatality event. While all fatalities involve loss of future life expectancy, the morbidity effects and their duration may differ. This article analyzes fatality risks accompanied by...