July 12, 2008


the value of a statistical life

The EPA has downgraded the monetary value of an American life.

The “value of a statistical life” is $6.9 million in today’s dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency reckoned in May — a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago.

The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analysis over more than a dozen years.

Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.

Hard times, friend.

posted by Deron Bauman in economics, environment, government 

comments

3 Responses to “the value of a statistical life”

  1. Mike D. on July 12th, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Seems the only solution is to pack my bags and get my life valued in Euros. Those seem to hold their value.

  2. Cooper Renner on July 13th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    So let’s see here: my entire life’s salary is under ONE million dollars, my pension so far has paid out less than 50 thousand dollars, the only thing I own is my car (which is worth less than I paid for it out of those two money sources mentioned above). . . Where’s the rest of my “value”?

  3. Sheila Ryan on July 13th, 2008 at 10:48 am

    Your value resides in not living a statistical life.

Leave a Reply