The Value of Life: Estimates with Risks by Occupation and Industry

Viscusi, W. Kip

doi:10.2139/ssrn.416600

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The Value of Life: Estimates with Risks by Occupation and Industry

42 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2003

See all articles by W. Kip Viscusi

W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt University - Law School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics; Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management; Vanderbilt University - Strategy and Business Economics

Date Written: May 2003

Abstract

The worker fatality risk variable constructed for this paper uses BLS data on total worker deaths by both occupation and industry over the 1992-1997 period rather than death risks by occupation or industry alone, as in past studies. The subsequent estimates using 1997 CPS data indicate a value of life of $4.7 million for the full sample, $7.0 million for blue-collar males, and $8.5 million for blue-collar females. Unlike previous estimates, these values account for the influence of clustering of the job risk variable and compensating differentials for both workers' compensation and nonfatal job risks.

JEL Classification: J3, I1

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Viscusi, W. Kip, The Value of Life: Estimates with Risks by Occupation and Industry (May 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=416600 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.416600