Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life
2020
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of exposure to environmental hazards such as air pollution are often described by the estimated number of “premature deaths” and the economic value of an exposure reduction as the number of “statistical lives saved” multiplied by the “value per statistical life.” These terms can be misleading because the number of deaths advanced by exposure cannot be determined from mortality data; it could be that everyone who is exposed dies a little earlier than they would otherwise or that most are unaffected and only a small fraction die much earlier. Economic evaluation is not affected by this difficulty, although additional information about individual’s risks could affect the value.
Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life
Source:
Hammitt JK, Morfeld P, Tuomisto JT et al. Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life Lost: Identification, Quantification, and Valuation of Mortality Risks. Risk Analysis, Early View 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13427