TY  - JOUR
AU  - Aldy,Joseph E.
AU  - Viscusi,W. Kip
TI  - Age Variations in Workers' Value of Statistical Life
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10199
PY  - 2004
Y2  - January 2004
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10199
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10199.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joseph E. Aldy
Harvard Kennedy School
Taubman 382, Mailbox 58
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-7213
E-Mail: joseph_aldy@hks.harvard.edu

W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School
131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-1181
Tel: 615/343-7715
E-Mail: kip.viscusi@vanderbilt.edu
AB  - This paper develops a life-cycle model in which workers choose both consumption levels and job fatality risks, implying that the effect of age on the value of life is ambiguous. The empirical analysis of this relationship uses novel, age-dependent fatal and nonfatal risk variables. Workers' value of statistical life exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship over workers' life cycle based on hedonic wage model estimates, age-specific hedonic wage estimates, and a minimum distance estimator. The value of statistical life for a 60-year old ranges from $2.5 million to $3.0 million -- less than half the value for 30 to 40-year olds.
ER  -