Estimating the Value of a Statistical Life: The Importance of Omitted Variables and Publication Bias

Orley Ashenfelter and Michael Greenstone

No 10401, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In this paper we show that omitted variables and publication bias lead to severely biased estimates of the value of a statistical life. Although our empirical results are obtained in the context of a study of choices about road safety, we suspect that the same issues plague the estimation of monetary trade-offs regarding safety in other contexts.

JEL-codes: H43 J17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Note: EH LE LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (90)

Published as Ashenfelter, Orley and Michael Greenstone. "Estimating The Value Of A Statistical Life: The Importance Of Omitted Variables And Publication Bias," American Economic Review, 2004, v94(2,May), 454-460.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w10401.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Estimating the Value of a Statistical Life: The Importance of Omitted Variables and Publication Bias (2004)
Working Paper: Estimating the Value of a Statistical Life: The Importance of Omitted Variables and Publication Bias (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10401

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w10401

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().