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Risk guideposts for a safer society: Introduction and overview

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  • W. Kip Viscusi

    (Vanderbilt Law School)

Abstract

This symposium issue of the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty addresses wide-ranging policy issues pertaining to risk regulation and the economic underpinnings of these efforts. One such intervention consists of policies to address informational market failures. Whether new information has a positive value is less obvious than economists often assume. When more stringent regulations are required, the structure and evaluation of these efforts often hinges on the value of a statistical life, or the VSL. This symposium reports estimates of the utility functions that generate these local risk-money tradeoffs as well as new estimates of the VSL using both stated-preference and revealed-preference approaches. Articles also explore the behavioral factors that affect VSL estimates, the effect of health risks on product prices, and how income taxation affects stated-preference survey elicitations of the VSL. The symposium reports estimates of the VSL for almost 200 countries as well as the VSL levels used by U.S. government agencies in analyses of over 100 government regulations from 1985 to 2018.

Suggested Citation

  • W. Kip Viscusi, 2019. "Risk guideposts for a safer society: Introduction and overview," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 101-119, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jrisku:v:58:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11166-019-09307-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11166-019-09307-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas J. Kniesner, 2019. "Behavioral economics and the value of a statistical life," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 207-217, June.
    2. W. Kip Viscusi, 2019. "Utility functions for mild and severe health risks," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 143-166, June.
    3. Thomas J. Kniesner & W. Kip Viscusi & Christopher Woock & James P. Ziliak, 2012. "The Value of a Statistical Life: Evidence from Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 74-87, February.
    4. Aldy, Joseph, 2019. "Birds of a Feather: Estimating the Value of Statistical Life from Dual-Earner Families," Working Paper Series rwp19-013, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Linda Thunström & Jonas Nordström & Jason F. Shogren & Mariah Ehmke & Klaas Veld, 2016. "Strategic self-ignorance," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 117-136, April.
    6. Joseph E. Aldy, 2019. "Birds of a feather: Estimating the value of statistical life from dual-earner families," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 187-205, June.
    7. Hammitt, James K & Graham, John D, 1999. "Willingness to Pay for Health Protection: Inadequate Sensitivity to Probability?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 33-62, April.
    8. James K. Hammitt & Fangli Geng & Xiaoqi Guo & Chris P. Nielsen, 2019. "Valuing mortality risk in China: Comparing stated-preference estimates from 2005 and 2016," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 167-186, June.
    9. W. Kip Viscusi & Clayton Masterman, 2017. "Anchoring biases in international estimates of the value of a statistical life," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 103-128, April.
    10. Cass R. Sunstein, 2019. "Ruining popcorn? The welfare effects of information," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 121-142, June.
    11. Elissa Philip Gentry, 2019. "Empirical evidence of risk penalties for NTI Drugs," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 219-244, June.
    12. Joseph E. Aldy, 2019. "Birds of a Feather: Estimating the Value of Statistical Life from Dual-Earner Families," NBER Working Papers 25708, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dibooglu, Sel & Cevik, Emrah I. & Gillman, Max, 2022. "Gold, silver, and the US dollar as harbingers of financial calm and distress," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 200-210.
    2. W. Kip Viscusi, 2020. "Pricing the global health risks of the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 101-128, October.
    3. Nadia J. Sweis, 2022. "Revisiting the value of a statistical life: an international approach during COVID-19," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 259-272, September.
    4. Natalia Nunes Ferreira‐Batista & Adriano Dutra Teixeira & Maria Dolores Montoya Diaz & Fernando Antonio Slaibe Postali & Rodrigo Moreno‐Serra & James Love‐Koh, 2023. "Is primary health care worth it in the long run? Evidence from Brazil," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1504-1524, July.
    5. W. Kip Viscusi & Robert J. Cramer, 2023. "How regulations undervalue occupational fatalities," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 250-271, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    I10; K13; K32; D8; D61; J17;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • K13 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Tort Law and Product Liability; Forensic Economics
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income

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