4 ms·
Economists value a human life at $10,000,000 USD (there's a great Planet Money podcast about this). Therefore, 100 lives would be worth about a billion dollars
by zacharycohn 6y ago
Economists value a human life at $10,000,000 USD (there's a great Planet Money podcast about this).
Therefore, 100 lives would be worth about a billion dollars.
- logicchains 6y agoThat's the value of an average life. Health economists at e.g. the NHS actually use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year, to account for the fact that e.g. an 80 year old has fewer years of life left than a 10 year old.
- amscanne 6y agoMedical decisions in the USA suggest that the statistical value of a “quality-adjusted life year” is ~$128,000 on average. Obviously the question of “life years” is critical in this context. Everyone would be in favor of sacrificing more to save healthy children than people who are 80+. (No one wants to see anyone die needlessly, but the children can live happy lives for another half-century.)