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Using Mandated Speed Limits to Measure the Value of a Statistical Life

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Author Info
Orley Ashenfelter
Michael Greenstone

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Abstract

In 1987 the federal government permitted states to raise the speed limit on their rural interstate roads, but not on their urban interstate roads, from 55 mph to 65 mph. Since the states that adopted the higher speed limit must have valued the travel hours they saved more than the fatalities incurred, this institutional change provides an opportunity to estimate an upper bound on the public's willingness to trade off wealth for a change in the probability of death. Our estimates indicate that the adoption of the 65-mph limit increased speeds by approximately 4 percent, or 2.5 mph, and fatality rates by roughly 35 percent. Together, the estimates suggest that about 125,000 hours were saved per lost life. When the time saved is valued at the average hourly wage, the estimates imply that adopting states were willing to accept risks that resulted in a savings of $1.54 million (1997 dollars) per fatality, with a sampling error roughly one-third this value. We set out a simple model of states' decisions to adopt the 65-mph limit that turns on whether their savings exceed their value of a statistical life. The empirical implementation of this model supports the claim that $1.54 million is an upper bound, but it provides imprecise estimates of the value of a statistical life.

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Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Political Economy.

Volume (Year): 112 (2004)
Issue (Month): S1 (February)
Pages: S226-S267
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:112:y:2004:i:s1:p:s226-s267

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  1. Deacon, Robert T & Sonstelie, Jon, 1985. "Rationing by Waiting and the Value of Time: Results from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 627-47, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Glenn C. Blomquist, 2004. "Self-Protection and Averting Behavior, Values of Statistical Lives, and Benefit Cost Analysis of Environmental Policy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 89-110, 03. [Downloadable!]
  4. Dee, Thomas S., 1999. "State alcohol policies, teen drinking and traffic fatalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 289-315, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Ruhm, Christopher J., 1996. "Alcohol policies and highway vehicle fatalities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 435-454, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Lave, Charles A, 1985. "Speeding, Coordination, and the 55 MPH Limit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1159-64, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Ghosh, Debapriya & Lees, Dennis & Seal, William, 1975. "Optimal Motorway Speed and Some Valuations of Time and Life," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 134-43, June.
  8. Hersch, Joni, 1998. "Compensating Differentials for Gender-Specific Job Injury Risks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 598-627, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Keeler, Theodore E, 1994. "Highway Safety, Economic Behavior, and Driving Environment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 684-93, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Lee, N & Dalvi, M Q, 1969. "Variations in the Value of Travel Time," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(3), pages 213-36, September.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Kolko, Jed, 2007. "Dialing While Fishtailing: How Mobile Phones, Hands-Free Laws, and Driving Conditions Interact to Affect Traffic Fatalities," MPRA Paper 4135, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Henry S. Farber, 1977. "Individual Preferences and Union Wage Determination: The Case of the United Mine Workers," Working Papers 479, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  3. Bhattacharya, Soma & Alberini, Anna & Cropper, Maureen L., 2006. "The value of mortality risk reductions in Delhi, India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3995, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Orley Ashenfelter & Michael Greenstone, 2004. "Estimating the Value of a Statistical Life: The Importance of Omitted Variables and Publication Bias," Working Papers 858, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Anna Alberini & Aline Chiabai, 2006. "Urban Environmental Health and Sensitive Populations: How Much Are the Italians Willing to Pay to Reduce Their Risks?," ERSA conference papers ersa06p293, European Regional Science Association. [Downloadable!]
  6. Orley Ashenfelter, 2005. "Measuring the Value of a Statistical Life: Problems and Prospects," Working Papers 884, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2002. "Identification and Inference in Nonlinear Difference-In-Differences Models," NBER Technical Working Papers 0280, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2003. "Air Quality, Infant Mortality, and the Clean Air Act of 1970," NBER Working Papers 10053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Douglas Almond & Joseph J. Doyle, Jr., 2008. "After Midnight: A Regression Discontinuity Design in Length of Postpartum Hospital Stays," NBER Working Papers 13877, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. De Walque, Damien, 2004. "How does the impact of an HIV/AIDS information campaign vary with educational attainment ? Evidence from rural Uganda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3289, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Thomas J. Kniesner & W. Kip Viscusi & Christopher Woock & James P. Ziliak, 2007. "Pinning Down the Value of Statistical Life," IZA Discussion Papers 3107, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  12. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 2005. "The value of life and the rise in health spending," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Svensson, Mikael, 2007. "Precautionary Behavior and Willingness to Pay for a Mortality Risk Reduction:Searching for the Expected Relationship," Working Papers 2007:3, Örebro University, Swedish Business School, revised 18 Feb 2008. [Downloadable!]
  14. Michael Greenstone & Justin Gallagher, 2005. "Does Hazardous Waste Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program," NBER Working Papers 11790, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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