Are Some Lives More Valuable?
Sammanfattning
A theoretical model of the ethical preferences of individuals is tested by conducting a
choice experiment on safety-enhancing road investments. The relative value of a
saved life is found to decrease with age, such that the present value of a saved year of
life is almost independent of age at a pure rate of time preference of a few percent,
and a saved car driver is valued 17-31% lower than a pedestrian of the same age.
Moreover, individuals’ ethical preferences seem to be fairly homogenous.
Universitet
Göteborg University. School of Business, Economics and Law
Samlingar
Fil(er)
Datum
2003Författare
Martinsson, Peter
Johansson-Stenman, Olof
Nyckelord
Ethics; social preferences; individual social welfare function; relative value of life; random ethical model
Publikationstyp
Report
ISSN
1403-2465
Serie/rapportnr.
Working Papers in Economics, nr 96
Språk
en