Abstract
This article considers the manner in which people's altruistic concern for other people's safety should be incorporated in willingness-to-pay based values of statistical life and safety. It is shown that, within a utilitarian framework, the traditional prescription that such values should take full account of people's willingness to pay for others' safety is validif andonly if altruism is exclusivelysafety-focused, in the sense that whilei is concerned forj's safety, he is quite indifferent to other determinants ofj's utility.
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The idea explored in this article arose in the course of work conducted under contract to the U.K. Department of Transport. The Department, of course, bears no responsibility for views expressed in the article. I am grateful to Ted Bergstrom and Ian Dobbs for helpful comments and suggestions.
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Jones-Lee, M.W. Altruism and the value of other people's safety. J Risk Uncertainty 4, 213–219 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056126
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056126