American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
New Estimates of the Value of a Statistical Life Using Air Bag Regulations as a Quasi-experiment
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 7,
no. 1, February 2015
(pp. 331–59)
Abstract
Due to federal regulations, automobile air bag availability was a model-specific discontinuous function of model year for used vehicles in the 1990s and early 2000s. We use the discontinuities and the gradual increase in the supply of air bags to trace out the demand curve for air bags and the implied distribution of the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) across consumers. Although imprecise, our preferred point estimates indicate that the median VSL is between $9 million and $11 million and that a sizable portion of consumers placed negative values on air bags, probably due to distrust of the technology. (JEL D12, J17, L51, L62)Citation
Rohlfs, Chris, Ryan Sullivan, and Thomas Kniesner. 2015. "New Estimates of the Value of a Statistical Life Using Air Bag Regulations as a Quasi-experiment." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 7 (1): 331–59. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20110309Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- J17 Value of Life; Forgone Income
- L51 Economics of Regulation
- L62 Automobiles; Other Transportation Equipment; Related Parts and Equipment
- Posted by Robert Kaestner
- Posted on 3/3/2015 5:09:37 PM