Skill and the Value of Life
Abstract
The value of statistical life (VSL) can be inferred through real-world wagefatality risk trade-offs made across different occupations. This paper shows that the VSL based on the wage-risk trade-off tends to be biased upward if it does not account for the diversity of workers' unobservable skill to cope privately with job risk. This upward bias arises because the highest required wage differential among the workers is divided by their average risk across the population.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Political Economy.
Volume (Year): 110 (2002)
Issue (Month): 5 (October)
Pages: 1168-1197
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE/
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- Hwang, Hae-shin & Reed, W Robert & Hubbard, Carlton, 1992. "Compensating Wage Differentials and Unobserved Productivity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 835-58, August.
- Shogren, Jason F. & Crocker, Thomas D., 1991.
"Risk, self-protection, and ex ante economic value,"
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management,
Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, January.
- Shogren, Jason F. & Crocker, Thomas D., 1991. "Risk, Self-Protection, and Ex Ante Economic Value," Staff General Research Papers 334, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
- Jason F. Shogren & Thomas D. Crocker, 1990. "Risk, Self-Protection, and Ex Ante Economic Value," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 90-wp57, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
- Ehrlich, Isaac & Becker, Gary S, 1972. "Market Insurance, Self-Insurance, and Self-Protection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(4), pages 623-48, July-Aug..
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As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:- Self Selection and Diverse Views Over Sea Level Rise in North Carolina
by Matthew E. Kahn in Environmental and Urban Economics on 2012-06-23 17:58:00
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