Healthcare Economist

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How much is your life worth? Posted: 01 Jun 2021 05:54 PM PDT In a previous post, I answered this question from the perspective of government agencies: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the answer is $10 million.  Other agencies place use a somewhat lower number.  The Food and Drug administration pegs the value at $9.5 million and the Department of Agriculture places the value at $8.9 million. However, a new systematic literature review by Keller et al. (2021) tries to answer this questions based on published research. Of the 120 included in the systematic review of the value of a statistical life (VSL), 63% were stated preference (e.g., contingent valuation, discrete choice experiment), 36% were revealed preference (e.g., compensating wage differentials), and 1% used the human capital approach. Based on this approach, the authors found that: Estimates for VSL varied substantially by context (sector, developed/developing country, socio-economic status, etc), with the median of midpoint purchasing power parity–adjusted estimates of 2019 US$5.7 million ($6.8 million, $8.7 million, and $5.3 million for health, labor market, and transportation safety sectors, respectively). The authors also note that: Overall, the VSL literature suggests that individuals value a life-year more highly than willingness-to-pay thresholds used in health technology assessment. Source: Keller E, Newman JE, Ortmann A, Jorm LR, Chambers GM. How Much Is a Human Life Worth? A Systematic Review. Value in Health. 2021 May 25.

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