Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

No 332: Value of statistical life and cause of accident: A choice experiment

Fredrik Carlsson (), Dinky Daruvala () and Henrik Jaldell ()
Additional contact information
Fredrik Carlsson: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG
Dinky Daruvala: Department of Economics, Karlstad University, Postal: SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
Henrik Jaldell: Department of Economics, Karlstad University, Postal: SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to compare value of statistical life (VSL) estimates for traffic, drowning and fire accidents. Using a choice experiment in a mail survey of 5000 Swedish respondents we estimated the willingness to pay for risk reductions in the three accidents. In the experiment respondents were asked in a series of questions, whether they would choose risk reducing investments where type of accident, cost of the investment, the risk reduction acquired, and the baseline risk varied between questions. The VSLs for fire and drowning accidents were found to be about 1/3 lower than that for traffic accidents. Although respondents worry more about traffic accidents, this alone cannot explain the difference in VSL estimates. The difference between fire and drowning accidents was not found to be statistically significant.

Keywords: Stated preferences; statistical life; risk; traffic; fire; drowning; choice experiment

JEL-codes: D60; D81; R41

22 pages, December 9, 2008

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