Willingness to accept equals willingness to pay for labor market estimates of the value of a statistical life

Our research clarifies the conceptual linkages among willingness to pay for additional safety, willingness to accept less safety, and the value of a statistical life (VSL). We present econometric estimates using panel data to analyze the VSL levels associated with job changes that may affect the worker’s exposure to fatal injury risks. Our baseline VSL estimates are $7.7 million and $8.3 million (Y$2001). There is no statistically significant divergence between willingness-to-accept VSL estimates associated with wage increases for greater risks and willingness-to-pay VSL estimates as reflected in wage changes for decreases in risk. Our focal result contrasts with the literature documenting a considerable asymmetry in tradeoff rates for increases and decreases in risk. An important implication for policy is that it is reasonable to use labor market estimates of VSL as a measure of the willingness to pay for additional safety.     

The heterogeneity of the value of statistical life: Introduction and overview

The refinement in worker fatality risk data used in hedonic wage studies and evidence from new stated preference studies have facilitated the exploration of the heterogeneity of the value of statistical life (VSL). Although the median VSL estimate for workers is $7–$7–8 million, the VSL varies considerably within the worker population. New estimates of the income elasticity of VSL are 1.0 or above, which are consistent with theoretical models linking VSL to the coefficient of relative risk aversion. The specific relationship between VSL and risk aversion is, however, more complex than previously understood. Age differences in VSL are substantial, with young children being accorded especially high VSL amounts. The public’s willingness to pay to reduce risks is reduced if those being protected are perceived as being blameworthy due to their responsibility for contributing to the risk.     

Age,autos, and the value of a statistical life

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is used to assign a dollar value to the benefits of health and safety regulations. Many of those regulations disproportionately benefit older people, but most estimates of the VSL come from hedonic wage regressions with few older workers and no retirees. Using automobile purchase decisions, I estimate a VSL for individuals from the age of 18 up to the age of 85. Combining information on vehicle holdings and use, household attributes, used vehicle prices, crash test results, and yearly fatal accidents for each make, model, and vintage automobile, I calculate a separate willingness to pay for reduced mortality for different age groups. I find a significant inverted-U shape to the age-VSL function that ranges from $1.5 to $19.2 million (in 2009 dollars). The shape and magnitude of the vehicle-based age-VSL relationship corroborate labor market estimates and extend the age range of revealed preference evidence on the relationship between age and the VSL.     

Eliminating the U.S. drug lag: Implications for drug safety

An increase in new drugs first launched in the U.S. and shorter lags between first global drug launch and U.S. approval indicate that the U.S. drug lag has declined. This paper examines the impact of these changes on drug safety using adverse drug reaction data for FDA-approved drugs in 1990 to 2004. Results show two different effects. First, drugs having longer U.S. launch lags (more foreign market experience) have fewer post approval drug risks compared to drugs with shorter launch lags. This result implies that foreign market experience prior to U.S. entry provides information to help alleviate drug-related risks for U.S. patients. Second, drugs that are first launched in the U.S. have fewer serious drug reactions compared to those that were first launched abroad. This result is surprising, and may suggest that first U.S. drug launch signals information about unobserved application quality, which translates into lower post approval drug risks.     

Prevalence of Industry Support and its Relationship to Research Integrity

Most U.S. clinical trials are funded by industry. Opportunities exist for sponsors to influence research in ways that jeopardize research objectivity. The purpose of this study was to survey U.S. medical school faculty to assess financial arrangements between investigators and industry to learn about investigators' first hand knowledge of the effects of industry sponsorship on research.

Here we show first-hand knowledge that compromises occurred in: research participants' well-being (9%), research initiatives (35%), publication of results (28%), interpretation of research data (25%), and scientific advancement (20%) because of industry support. Financial relationships with industry were prevalent and considered important to conducting respondents' research.     

Do people respond to low probability risks? Evidence from tornado risk and manufactured homes

Whether people perceive and respond to low-probability natural hazards is a research question of considerable policy relevance. We obtain evidence by considering the response of housing choice to tornado risk for manufactured homes. The vulnerability of manufactured housing, combined with its growing share of the U.S. housing market, has led to proposed mandates for community shelters in mobile home parks. Expected utility theory, however, predicts that households should account for tornado risk in their housing choice. We test for an effect of tornado risk on manufactured housing demand using cross-sectional state data, as well as counties in three tornado prone states. We find that people do respond to tornado risk; our estimates indicate that each expected annual state tornado death per million residents reduces demand for manufactured homes by about 3%. The estimated quantity effect is consistent with the market studies of the price elasticity of manufactured homes.     

Policy relevant heterogeneity in the value of statistical life: New evidence from panel data quantile regressions

We examine differences in the value of statistical life (VSL) across potential wage levels in panel data using quantile regressions with intercept heterogeneity. Latent heterogeneity is econometrically important and affects the estimated VSL. Our findings indicate that a reasonable average cost per expected life saved cut-off for health and safety regulations is 7 million to7 million to 8 million per life saved, but the VSL varies considerably across the labor force. Our results reconcile the previous discrepancies between hedonic VSL estimates and the values implied by theories linked to the coefficient of relative risk aversion. Because the VSL varies elastically with income, regulatory agencies should regularly update the VSL used in benefit assessments, increasing the VSL proportionally with changes in income over time.     

Collecting text messages from college students: Evaluating a novel methodology

Social interaction, particularly in older adolescents, increasingly involves computer‐mediated communication. Although studies of public computer‐mediated communication are increasingly common, studies of private text messaging remain rare. As approaches for obtaining such data evolve with technological advances, developmental scientists need designs in which to use such approaches that reduce sampling biases in both participants and text messages. In this study (n = 854; 46% male; 22% African American, 60% European American), we examined selection biases in the participant sample (i.e., factors associated with actual participation), procedural biases in the participant sample (i.e., factors related to failed data capture due to technological or procedural issues), and selection biases in the sample of text messages (i.e., based on self‐reported reasons for texting). Findings from our study suggest that studying human interaction directly through analysis of text message data is not only feasible, but also may be successfully undertaken with minimal biases regarding sample selection and text message selection among those who are engaged in research and engaged in text messaging outside of the study context. However, biases may occur depending on the type of platform (iPhone vs. Android) used by participants for texting.     

Compensating wage differentials for fatal injury risk in Australia,Japan, and the United States

Our research infers the effects of institutionalized wage setting and lengthy worker-firm attachment by comparing estimated compensating wage differentials for fatal injury risk in Japanese, Australian, and U.S. manufacturing. Hedonic labor market equilibrium regressions for Japan reveal a statistically fragile compensating wage differential of 0% to 1.4% for exposure to the average fatality risk compared to employment in a perfectly safe workplace. Australian workers receive a statistically robust 2.5% estimated wage premium. Using new data on work-related fatalities, we find a 1% compensating wage differential in U.S. manufacturing that becomes more positive and statistically less significant as data are aggregated.     

美国核政策调整与国际核不扩散机制的前景

国际核不扩散机制是美国防止核扩散,限制对手核力量以实现自身利益的重要手段,是美国维系其主导的世界核秩序的重要干预变量;而核不扩散机制的内在运行逻辑,也使得美国核政策成为决定该机制发展方向的最主要变量。因此,奥巴马政府核政策的调整,势必对核不扩散机制的维持和发展产生深刻影响。中国是现行核不扩散机制的重要参与方,美国核政策的调整必将通过国际核不扩散机制这一干预变量给中国造成直接或间接影响。     

Elicitation of health values from mortality risk reduction

There are concerns regarding uncertainty about the accuracy of applying available empirical willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates for reducing accidental deaths to value changes in risks of pollution-related deaths. In this study, we develop a theoretical model on defining WTP, and its determinants, and derive WTP estimates for changes in pollution-related mortality risks with varying morbidity and timing attributes. A survey is designed and conducted with 100 subjects. Each subject was to complete five choice sets and provided a range of implicit values of statistical life (VSL). The choices are estimated using the logit procedure. And, using the results of estimated multinomial logit model, the VSL is estimated to about $6.2 million.     

MFN tariff treatment of imports from China: Effects on U.S. employment

This article estimates the effects on U.S. output and employment of granting most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff treatment to imports from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Import demand elasticities are used to estimate changes in imports resulting from the lower tariff rates. A highly disaggregated U.S. input-output table and labor-output ratios are used to convert changes in imports into changes in domestic output and employment at a detailed sectorial level. U.S. import restraints on the textile and apparel industry are incorporated into the analysis. The article explores the implications of increased imports from the PRC for U.S., PRC, and LDC policy makers.     

Self Selection Bias in the Estimates of Compensating Differentials for Job Risks in India

This study contributes to the hedonic wage literature in developing countries by estimating the collective willingness to pay of a statistical life/injury, using an original data set from the Indian labor market. As self-selection by workers results in biased estimates of the wage premium for job risks, the study uses a modified selectivity bias correction technique. Empirical results indicate substantial heterogeneity in returns to risk. The estimated value of life without selectivity bias is Rs. 56 million (US $3 million), which is substantially larger than the value with selection bias. The estimates provided by the study can aid policy makers, international agencies and other researchers in evaluating health projects in India and other developing countries.     

中国投资东盟的驱动机制探析

中国自提出"走出去"战略11年来,对外直接投资呈现较快增长。在世界经济总体放缓、美国经济复苏乏力、欧债危机日益严重的国际背景下,中国企业对外直接投资的区位选择是决定国际化战略能否成功的关键因素之一。当前,对外直接投资在中国和东盟的经济合作中还具有巨大潜力。驱动中国企业对东盟直接投资的因素主要有市场因素、生产成本因素、经营发展因素、政策因素等几个方面。     

Negotiating survival: undocumented Mexican immigrant women in the Pacific Northwest

Current analyses of Mexico–U.S. migration theory generally are based on socioeconomic contexts and decision-making processes of male respondents. Further, limited data available on undocumented Mexican immigrant women mainly address the Mexico–U.S. border area, and adjacent U.S. urban centers. Our qualitative study focuses on undocumented Mexican immigrant women residing in central Washington State, where the regional economy is dominated by agribusiness development and dependent on immigrant and migrant farm labor. This paper assesses propositions of neoclassical economic and social capital theories of international migration in explaining the women’s migration decision-making processes. Project data indicate that while the Pacific Northwest has been a primary migration destination for sometime, it now may be increasingly a second-stage U.S. migration site, following initial migration to more traditional destinations such as California.     

Will oil markets tighten again? A survey of policies to manage possible oil supply disruptions

The effects of an oil supply disruption on the U.S. economy are analyzed along with the various policy options. Part of the analysis is based on a computerized model of the U.S. economy and the world oil market. Micro as well as macroeconomic issues are considered. The paper argues against the use of price controls and allocations and also against a disruption tariff used as a stand-alone measure. It advocates the use of some stabilizing macroeconomic measures and a temporary producer tax similar to the windfall profits tax.     

Cross-border school enrolment: Associated factors in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands

This paper examines students who live in Mexico but attend school in the U.S., and looks into the factors associated with their decision to study abroad. Based on Mexico’s 2015 Intercensal Survey, cross-border students are described in terms of their number, location, educational level and socioeconomic characteristics. Subsequently, the study estimates probit models to analyze the factors associated with studying in the United States. Cross-border students are mainly U.S.-born and concentrated in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. The probability of being a cross-border student is positively associated with age, household income and having a household member who was born in the U.S. or is a cross-border worker. Cross-border students come from high-income households with strong ties to the United States. The decision to study in the U.S. is likely taken due to the higher quality of the country’s education system and to facilitate an eventual transition into the U.S. labor market.     

气候安全威胁美国的国计民生

本文通过在美国访问期间所作的《美国气候变化和国际安全的调查问卷》数据报告,进行系统的整理分析,来分析气候变化所带来的直接安全和间接安全问题。气候变化的影响远不限于它本身带来的生态威胁,由其所产生的国际冲突、资源争夺和国际干预也对美国外交提出了新的挑战。问卷结果显示,气候变化在中长期（至2025年前后）将会逐渐成为影响美国国家安全比较重要的因素,美国国内对于气候安全的共识将会逐渐加深。美国对气候安全政治化和国际化的重视程度日益深入,这会给未来美国参与全球气候谈判注入新的动力。世界各国应对美国的气候外交有所关切,并在合作中进行积极应对。     

Importation,SES-selective acculturation,and the weaker SES-health gradients of Mexican immigrants in the United States

Previous studies find U.S. immigrants have weaker socioeconomic gradients in health relative to non-Hispanic Whites and their U.S.-born co-ethnics. Several explanations have been advanced but few have been tested empirically. We use data from the Mexican Family Life Survey and the U.S. National Health Interview Survey, including longitudinal data in the former measuring socioeconomic status (SES) and health previous to emigration, to test if (1) immigrants “import” their gradients from the sending country, or if (2) they may be changing as a result of SES-graded acculturation among Mexican migrant men in two health indicators: obesity and current smoking. We find evidence consistent with the first hypothesis: the gradients of migrants measured prior to coming to the U.S. are not statistically different from those of nonmigrants, as the gradients of each are relatively weak. Although the gradients for obesity and smoking appear to weaken with time spent in the U.S., the differences are not significant, suggesting little support for the selective acculturation hypothesis.     

Individual and Situational Differences in Recovery from Bereavement: A Risk Group Identified

The Tübingen Longitudinal Study of Bereavement was designed to provide information on (a) health deterioration and recovery following bereavement, (b) risk factors in bereavement, and (c) selection and social desirability as potential biases in health findings in this type of research. A sample of widows and widowers were interviewed three times during the first two years following their loss. Measures of their health and well-being were compared to those of a matched sample of married individuals. Data were also collected on the health status of some of the widowed who refused participation. The findings suggest the following conclusions: (1) Partner loss is associated with an increased level of depressive and somatic symptoms during the first six months, but the majority of bereaved gradually recover over the two-year period. (2) Individuals with low internal control beliefs who have experienced an unexpected loss constitute a risk group of individuals who suffer most and recover least. (3) Due to selection, the impact of bereavement is likely to be underestimated for widowers and overestimated for widows. Implications of these findings are discussed.