The Economic Value of Preventing Fatalities: Recent evidence on the value of a statistical life in Sweden

Lars Hultkrantz and Mikael Svensson

No 2010:14, Working Papers from Örebro University, School of Business

Abstract:

Aims: This paper briefly reviews the theoretical and empirical foundation for the economic valuation of preventing fatalities, referred to as the value of a statistical life (VSL), and summarizes recent published empirical evidence on VSL in Sweden.

Methods: Literature searches were conducted in Econlit, Pubmed, Google Scholar and in bibliographies of published papers.

Results: A total of nine published papers on the value of preventing fatalities in Sweden where identified since year 2000. Most studies have been conducted in a road-safety context, which may be explained by the widespread use of economic evaluations in this sector. Preferred policy estimates of the value of a statistical life in the road sector ranges from 13 to 57 million Swedish kronor (€1.4 to €6.1 million). Currently, official authorities in Sweden recommend a VSL of 22 million Swedish kronor (€2.4 million).

Conclusion: In order to conduct an economic evaluation of a life-saving intervention it is necessary to have an explicit economic value of a prevented fatality. Empirical research on Swedish data suggests that an appropriate value is in the range of 13 to 57 million Swedish kronor (€1.4 to €6.1 million).

Keywords: Willingness to pay; Value of a statistical life; Stated Preferences; Revealed Preferences; Economic Evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D61 H51 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15 pages
Date: 2010-10-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published as Hultkrantz, Lars and Mikael Svensson, 'The Value of a Statistical Life in Sweden: A Review of the Empirical Literature' in Health Policy, 2012, pages 302-310.

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2010_014

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