Equal value for lives is a philosophical position that one can take. People even extend this to life equality for animals -- the Jains, I believe, even believe

Equal value for lives is a philosophical position that one can take. People even extend this to life equality for animals -- the Jains, I believe, even believe that the value of micro-organisms are equal to the lives of people. That's largely due, I believe, to belief in reincarnation. However, there are downsides to this philosophy. For instance, it means that any amount of resources should be spent equally to keep alive 75 year olds and 25 year olds. This approach can result in some seriously negative outcomes for public finances, which could be better spent on education, etc. Lives can't be traded, so we can't know the market value of lives. But I'd wager that most people over 75 would trade their life for a 25 year old life, if they could. That's only one way to demonstrate that most 75 year olds believe their life to be less valuable than a young person starting out. From a more selfless frame, most 75 year olds would also assert that a 25 year old should be prioritized over themselves