A Sensitivity Analysis for the Derived Micromort Value of Life and Death Decisions Using Two Methods for Constructing Utility Functions This paper provides various sensitivity analyses for the effects of the elicitation parameters of two methods for the utility function assessments needed to deal with risky decisions involving health state and consumption. The two methods include: a) Using a utility function over a deterministic value function, and b) Using a utility copula function over utility functions for each attribute. The two methods are explored and compared in terms of the derived Micromort value (a way to value a risky decision deal in dollars) and how it is sensitive to each parameter needed for the assessments of each method. The results show that the Micromort value increases with the consumption level and decreases with age. As the decisionmaker increases the tradeoff between health and wealth, the Micromort value tends to increase. In addition, becoming highly risk averse over value, the decisionmaker also has a higher Micromort value.

Collective risk aversion In this paper we analyse the risk attitude of a group of heterogenous agents and we develop a theory of comparative collective risk tolerance. In particular, we characterize how shifts in the distribution of individual levels of risk tolerance affect the representative agentu0027s degree of risk tolerance. In the model with efficient risk  sharing and two agents (e.g. a household) with isoelastic preferences we show that an increase of the level of risk tolerance of one of the agents might have an ambiguous impact on the aggregate level of risk tolerance; the latter increases for some levels of aggregate wealth while it decreases for other levels of aggregate wealth. Specifically, there are two possible shapes for aggregate risk tolerance as a function of the risk tolerance level of one of the agents: increasing curve or increasing then decreasing curve. For more general populations we characterize the effect of first order like shifts (individual levels of risk tolerance more concentrated on high values) and second order like shifts (more dispersion on individual levels of risk tolerance) on the collective level of risk tolerance. We also evaluate how shifts in the distribution of individual levels of risk tolerance impact the collective level of risk tolerance in a framework with exogenous egalitarian sharing rules. Our results permit to better characterize differences in risk taking behavior between groups and individuals and among groups with different distribution of risk preferences.