IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jbcoan/v17y2026i1-2p_7.html

Employer Monopsony Power Does Not Reduce the Value of a Statistical Life

Author

Listed:
  • Cramer, Robert J.
  • Kniesner, Thomas
  • Viscusi, W. Kip

Abstract

Although wage rates are lower when employers have monopsony power, we find that the value of a statistical life (VSL) is not reduced when labor markets are more concentrated. Because the estimated VSL is the product of the wage and the wage-risk tradeoff rate, a greater tradeoff rate in highly concentrated U.S. labor markets produces a larger VSL. The general relationship we find is robust with respect to different labor market data. Our results provide the first evidence contradicting policy-related concerns that the VSL is lower in monopsonistic labor markets. The average VSL is often about $13 million (USD 2022) both for the full sample and at the median market concentration level, and it does not decline at higher levels of HHI.

Suggested Citation

  • Cramer, Robert J. & Kniesner, Thomas & Viscusi, W. Kip, 2026. "Employer Monopsony Power Does Not Reduce the Value of a Statistical Life," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1-2), pages -7, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jbcoan:v:17:y:2026:i:1-2:p:_7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2194588826100499/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jbcoan:v:17:y:2026:i:1-2:p:_7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/bca .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.