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Estimating how much a life is worth
QUESTION
What is a way we can estimate how much a life is worth? Is this beneficial for society?
| Subject | Religion | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Estimating the Value of a Life
Convectional opinion when discussing human life value has it that the human is priceless in all domains. This statement is true up to some extent. Economic experts and even governments have devised ways of attaching monetary value to each and every single life. This maneuver enables governments to evaluate and come up with regulations that establish the business cost and effectively compare it to the associated gains it brings to a human life altogether.
In 1949, after the Americans had successfully used the atom bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb. The United States government immediately came up with a response. This period was marred with speculation that economics could be applied to quantify anything and everything.
One certain economics professor, Spencer Banzhaf, noted that in a war between America and the Soviet Union at that time, would result in the sky being filled with propeller planes not all of which would be armed with a payload of atomic weapons but decoys such that in as much as many of the planes would be shot down, a considerable number would get through and successfully complete the mission. And this was greatly hated by the Air Force due to the resulting high casualties and inquiries were made considering the lives of the pilots and the crew and in response it was said that logistically, it was yet to be established how to value a human life. Economic experts devised ways of valuing a life based on average earnings. There were conflicting reports that this approach massively undermined human life value and unethical government decisions would result.
Using current figures it is estimated that an average worker earns approximately a thousand dollars annually for engaging in a job with a death risk probability of a single chance of death occurrence in ten thousand. It further clarified that for one person out of a total of ten thousand people engaging in a similar job, one is guaranteed to die as a result of the job. Using these figures in calculation, the total amount paid to the ten thousand laborers is equivalent to the value of the lost life in economic aspects.
Professionals in economics have admitted that the general population frowns on this approach. They comprehend that this is all related to a specific individual life but the economic professionals have countered this understanding relating this assessment to assigned values on life risks.
In society estimation of a value of life based on the value of statistical life approach is beneficial in that it has enabled the determination of compensation amounts in the event of occurrence of death. It is also beneficial to insurance companies as it enables the calculation of insurance premiums altogether.
In conclusion, a majority of regulations in government involving death risks are assessed employing the value of a statistical life approach and thus justifying many regulations. The value of statistical approach is a method of assigning a value to a human life without actually putting monetary value to the specific life.
References
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Aldy, J. E. (2019). Birds of a feather: Estimating the value of statistical life from dual-earner families. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 58(2-3), 187-205. Hu, C., Jain, G., Tamirisa, P., & Gorka, T. (2014, June). Method for estimating capacity and predicting remaining useful life of lithium-ion battery. In 2014 International Conference on Prognostics and Health Management (pp. 1-8). IEEE. Niroomand, N., & Jenkins, G. P. (2016). Estimating the value of life, injury, and travel time saved using a stated preference framework. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 91, 216-225.
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