New Estimates of the Value of a Statistical Life Using Air Bag Regulations as a Quasi-Experiment

Chris Rohlfs (), Ryan Sullivan and Thomas Kniesner
Additional contact information
Chris Rohlfs: Morgan Stanley

No 6994, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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 these 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. While imprecise, our preferred point estimates indicate that the median VSL is between $7 million and $13 million, but that a sizable portion of consumers placed negative values on air bags, probably due to distrust of the technology.

Keywords: quasi-experiment; VSL; airbags; value of statistical life; regression discontinuity design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D61 H40 I18 J17 K32 L62 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2012-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-tre
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2015, 7(1), 331-354

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Journal Article: New Estimates of the Value of a Statistical Life Using Air Bag Regulations as a Quasi-experiment (2015)
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