The value of a statistical life in Chile

In this article, we estimated the value of a statistical life and the value of a statistical injury (VSI) for Chilean workers using a combination of data from the year 2006 from the Chilean National Socio-Economic Survey, which provides workers’ characteristics, and annual statistics from the Chilean Safety Association, which provide labor accident risk data. We estimated a hedonic log-wage equation taking into account of selection bias and endogeneity. The estimated value of a statistical life was US$4,625,958, which increased by almost a factor three after correcting for endogeneity (US$12,826,520). On the other hand, the estimated VSI was US$30,840. The uncorrected results were lower than the values reported by other authors for various developed countries, but greater than those estimated using indirect approaches for Chile.     

Consistent estimation of the value of statistical life

Conventional estimators of the value of statistical life are biased. People differ in risk from each of many health threats, ability to reduce these risks, willingness to pay to reduce risk, and other utility parameters—creating a problem of multi-dimensional heterogeneity existing single-equation methods cannot handle. Herein we propose a general method of moments (GMM) approach that uses functional relationships between underlying parameters and observed data to estimate a person's willingness to pay for mortality risk reduction. This approach yields a consistent estimate of the value of statistical life. We use simulations to show that the GMM estimate of the value of statistical life performs well even when combining data from different sources that are sampled at different, low frequencies.     

Exploring heterogeneity in the value of a statistical life: Cause of death v. risk perceptions

Most current environmental policy analyses use Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) figures inferred from workplace safety and traffic accident contexts to compute the benefits of environmental programs that avoid premature deaths. There is considerable debate about the appropriateness of this practice, in part because the effect of cause of death may be partly confounded with latency, initial risks, and competing risks. Preference for reducing risks can be also affected by individual-assessed risk attributes that are rarely controlled in valuation studies. This paper explores reasons for differences in preferences for mortality risk reductions (if any), and establishes the magnitude of the effects of such risk attributes as compared to other sources of VSL heterogeneity. In our conjoint choice experiments, cause of death, the size of the risk reduction, and latency, the “price” of the risk reduction and the mode of delivery of the risk reduction are explicit attributes of the alternatives to be examined by the respondent. Our statistical models also control for actual and perceived exposure to risks, initial risks, risk attributes such as dread, and sensitivity to and controllability of specific risks. We find that there is significant heterogeneity in the valuation of mortality risks and thus in the VSL. The VSL increases with dread, exposure to risk, and the respondents' assessments of the baseline risks. It is higher when the risk reduction is delivered by a public program, and increases with the effectiveness rating assigned by the respondent to the mode of the risk reduction. Even when we control explicitly for all of these factors, the cause of death per se accounts for a large portion of the VSL. All else the same, the fact that the cause of the death is “cancer” results in a VSL that is about one million euro above the amount predicted by dread, exposure and other risk perception variables. The VSL in the road safety context is about one million euro less than what is predicted by dread, exposure, or beliefs compared to VSL for the respiratory risk context. The effect of cause of death is thus as large as the effect of other sources of VSL heterogeneity. Our respondents do not seem to discount future risks.     

Decomposing the bias in time-series estimates of CAPM betas

We identify two sources of bias arising from time-series regression used to compute beta. This bias arises due to the classical error in variables problem and a ‘mechanical interaction’ which exists when the index comprises the asset of interest. Assuming that the market is proxied by a fixed-weight index, we demonstrate that the relative weighting of an asset within the index, and/or the magnitude of its idiosyncratic risk, directly biases the beta estimate for the individual stock and also for all stocks within the index. Via simulations, we show that the problem is most pronounced for markets with a small number of highly concentrated assets. Finally, we propose a procedure to reduce this bias and apply the methods to equity data.     

Using the manufacturing productivity distribution to evaluate growth theories

Some multi-sector endogenous growth models contain strong predictions about productivity differences across sectors in the form of a distribution or density function. In this paper it is demonstrated that this distribution is left-skewed for a wide range of plausible parameter values. This stands in contrast to the right-skewed shape of the respective empirical distribution estimated by kernel methods for a measure of relative productivity with data for more than 450 four-digit US manufacturing industries during 1958–1996. This difference can be traced back to the assumption of strong intertemporal technological spillover effects that are at work in these models.     

Making the risk of job loss a way of life: Does it affect job satisfaction?

This study investigates the relationship between job satisfaction and job security in European countries. In doing so, it attempts to take into account the endogenous nature of the job security–job satisfaction relationship after controlling for the various economic and personal characteristics. The results show that workers in jobs with low likelihood of job termination derive higher utility from work compared to the workers in insecure jobs. This holds even after controlling for endogeneity by using both a conventional IV approach and a selection model. This appears to be the case for both men and women.     

Using composite indicators to evaluate the efficiency of health care system

This article produces a system-level composite indicator on population health in publicly provided primary health care. We first summarize information from various indicators of care by principal component analysis (PCA). We then regress the costs of care against these indicators to evaluate whether they are related. The existing health status indicator provides a point of comparison. Our results suggest that PCA can be used to extract information efficiently and thus to reduce the dimensionality of data. Furthermore, the use of the existing health status indicator to estimate cost-efficiency leads to invalid inference on overall efficiency, while the use of composite indicator significantly reduces the bias.     

Voting under ignorance of job skills of unemployed: the overtaxation bias

Usual models on voting over basic income–flat tax schedules rest on the assumption that voters know the whole distribution of skills even if at equilibrium some individuals do not work. If individuals’ productivity remains unknown until they work, it may be more convincing to assume that voters have only beliefs about the distribution of skills and that a learning process takes place. In this paper, at each period, individuals vote according to their beliefs which are updated when getting new information from the job market. The voting process converges towards some steady-state equilibrium that depends on both the true distribution of skills and the initial beliefs. The equilibrium tax rate is higher than (or equal to) the tax rate achieved in the perfect information framework. An illustration is provided on French data: if voters are over-pessimistic as to the potential productivity of unemployed people, majority voting may lock the economy in an “informational trap” with a high tax rate and a high level of inactivity.     

A note on ‘trying to value a life’

Broome's alleged paradox that application of the usual compensation test to the valuation of life would produce an infinite monetary value is shown to be false because it is based on illegitimate generalisation from a special case in which no effective compensation is possible. In the general case, relevant to public sector project appraisal, such compensation is possible, and finite values are to be expected, judging by people's ordinary behaviour.     

Using propensity matching estimators to evaluate the impact of privatization on wages

Whether the transfer of ownership rights to the private sector leads to a decline or increase in wage growth is theoretically ambiguous, given that the outcome depends on the uncertain interaction between firms and workers. Using propensity matching techniques, this article investigates the effects of privatization on wages in the Portuguese banking industry. The empirical results, obtained from Quadros de Pessoal for the period between 1989 and 1997, generally show a negative (positive) short-run (long-run) effect of privatization on relative wage growth for both men and women retained in the privatized firms. Moreover, the results show that the most educated and experienced (oldest) workers, as well as those in the high skill occupational categories, were more likely to experience a negative wage effect.     

Using Engel curves to estimate bias in the Canadian CPI as a cost of living index

Abstract.  Semiparametric Engel curves are used to infer bias in the Canadian CPI as a Cost of Living Index. The budget share of food has long been used as an indicator of welfare. We compare households with the same levels of CPI deflated total expenditure over the period 1978–2000. Differences in the expenditure share of food are attributed to the CPI failing to capture changes in costs of living. We employ a novel econometric approach using a single index penalized linear spline model. Over the period, we find that the CPI overstated changes in the cost of living between 1.33 and 1.86% for the four household types considered. JEL classification: D1, C1     

Secrecy, two-sided bias and the value of evidence

We provide necessary and sufficient conditions on players' preferences for a verifiable message game to possess a separating equilibrium and/or a pooling equilibrium, as well as sufficient conditions for every equilibrium of such a game to be pooling. We also characterize all nonseparating equilibria, and use this property to show that less information might be conveyed in any equilibrium of a verifiable message game than in some equilibrium of the cheap talk game with the same parameters.     

Improving estimates of job matching efficiency with different measures of unemployment

Traditional measures of unemployment can mask important changes in the labor market across time. We therefore use broader definitions of unemployment to estimate time-varying job-matching efficiency rates that are consistent with vacancies and hiring activity data for the U.S. Our efficiency rates are then modelled along with employment data to study their dynamic, non-linear relationship. We find that including marginally attached workers and part-time workers for economic reasons helps explain the changes in employment patterns observed after the global financial crisis. This finding emphasizes the importance of accounting for labor underutilization, particularly during the latest economic recovery.     

The impact of job mobility on earnings: using occupational and industrial classifications to identify job changes

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median number of years that a US worker has been with their current employer is 4.4 years. Although many job changes may not be classified as ‘career changes,’ any type of job change may have an impact on a person’s future earnings. In the present study, the following three types of job changes are examined in order to determine which ones result in higher incomes: a change in occupational status; a change in industry; or a change in both. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), a log-linear wage regression with a correction for self-selection is estimated. Results suggest that changing jobs within the same industry or within the same occupation both increase a person’s income. However, a job change that is characterized by both a change in industry and occupation reduces a person’s income. The present study is one of the few studies to examine the effects of job mobility on earnings when mobility is defined in the context of changes in occupational and/or industrial classification.