ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Faculty Research Working Paper Series
ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Working Paper No. RWP14-024
May 2014
Abstract
We develop a numerical life-cycle model with choice over consumption and leisure, stochastic mortality and labor income processes, and calibrated to U.S. data to characterize willingness to pay (WTP) for
mortality risk reduction. Our theoretical framework can explain many empirical findings in this literature, including an inverted-U life-cycle WTP and an order of magnitude difference in prime-aged adults WTP. By endogenizing leisure and employing multiple income measures, we reconcile the literature's large variation in estimated income elasticities. By accounting for gender- and race-specific stochastic mortality and income processes,
we explain the literature's black-white and female-male differences.
Citation
Aldy, Joseph, and Seamus Smyth. "Heterogeneity in the Value of Life." ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP14-024, May 2014.