Complementarity and the measurement of individual risk tradeoffs
Subtitle: accounting for quantity and quality of life effects
By: Mary F. Evans, V. Kerry Smith.
Contributors: Smith, V. Kerry 1945-; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 13722; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 13722.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "This paper considers the factors responsible for differences with age in estimates of the wage compensation an individual requires to accept increased occupational fatality risk.  We derive a relationship between the value of a statistical life (VSL) and the degree of complementarity between consumption and labor supplied when health status serves as a potential source of variation in this relationship.  Our empirical analysis finds that variations in an individual's health status or quality of life and anticipated longevity threats lead to significant differences in the estimated wage/risk tradeoffs.  We describe how extensions to the specification of hedonic wage models, including measures for quality of life and anticipated longevity threats, help to explain the diversity in past studies examining how the estimated wage[omega]risk tradeoff changes with age"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 6/6/2008.

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