Viscusi W K
Public Policy. 1978 Summer;26(3):359-86.
The empirical analysis of compensating wage differentials received by 496 blue-collar workers yields the first implicit values of injuries ever obtained and the only implicit values of life that take into account compensation for other nonpecuniary characteristics. Workers behave as if they attached a dollar value of $10(4) to nonfatal injuries and $10(6) to death. This value of life estimate exceeds those found in other studies, not because these earlier estimates are wrong, but simply because there is not a unique value of life but a distribution of such values across the population. Detailed discussions indicate the pertinence of these results not only to occupational health and safety policies but also to benefit-cost analyses of other policies affecting life and limb.
对496名蓝领工人获得的补偿性工资差异进行的实证分析得出了有史以来首个伤亡的隐含价值，也是唯一考虑了其他非货币特征补偿的生命隐含价值。工人们的行为表现就好像他们赋予非致命伤害的美元价值为10（4），赋予死亡的美元价值为10（6）。这种生命价值估计超过了其他研究中的结果，并非因为这些早期估计有误，而是因为生命价值并非唯一，而是在人群中存在这样一个价值分布。详细讨论表明，这些结果不仅与职业健康和安全政策相关，还与影响生命和肢体的其他政策的效益成本分析相关。
