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Article: Some problems with value-of-life estimates based on labor market data.(Hedonic Damages - Ten Years Later)
- Article from:
- Journal of Forensic Economics
- Article date:
- March 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 National Association of Forensic Economists. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Estimates of the value-of-life have relied heavily on labor market studies of compensating wages. These studies typically involve least squares regressions using cross-sectional data. The dependent variable is log of wages and the independent variables are years of schooling, age, age squared, and so on. The key independent variable is a measure of the death rate on the job. Most studies have found a strong partial correlation between log-wages and the death rate and most authors have interpreted this correlation as evidence that the labor market is generating compensating wages for hazardous work. Some economists have used the coefficient from this correlation to estimate ...