G. Tracy Mehan III is back for another review! This is about a book, Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society by W. Kip Viscusi of the Vanderbilt University Law School.
Tracy sent the following email with his review, which will appear in the January-February 2019 issue of The Environmental Forum (Environmental Law Institute):
The book outlines the development of VSL (mortality risk) for purposes of regulatory benefit-cost analysis and its adoption by federal agencies. It then describes potential application of the approach for corporate product development, wrongful death actions and other purposes.
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The first few paragraphs:
In W. Kip Viscusi’s new book on the value of a statistical life — the mortality risk that any
benefit-cost analysis should utilize — he describes the triumph of this tool in the federal regulatory arena. Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society then goes on to show even greater societal benefits that can be had by broader adoption of this method, one he has pioneered throughout his career.
VSL is now standard practice, “the norm for benefit assessment,” within federal regulatory agencies such as the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency, which operate under Executive Orders, in place since the Reagan administration governing the promulgation of regulations, and mandating the use of benefit-cost analysis except where existing statutes do not allow its application. “The current U.S. emphasis in selecting VSL levels is on the labor market evidence regarding wage-risk tradeoffs for dangerous jobs,” writes Viscusi.
The ascendancy of the VSL in regulatory benefitcost analysis is, in large part, due to Viscusi’s scholarship. His object now is to consolidate these gains and broaden its use to federal programs, not just regulations; corporate safety decisions; court awards for punitive damages in wrongful death cases; and regulatory penalties presently capped, by statute, at unrealistically low levels. Viscusi’s work in this field has contributed to greater efficiency, safety and equity for his fellow citizens. Much more can be done, he believes to incentivize and enhance the nation’s health and safety. But first a few basics.
Fascinating! Suitable for Halloween, too!
Enjoy!
"Age at death is a random variable." - Dr. Chester Kisiel, my statistical hydrology professor at the University of Arizona
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