Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/21357 
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dc.contributor.authorAshenfelter, Orley C.en
dc.contributor.authorGreenstone, Michaelen
dc.date.accessioned2009-01-28T16:21:40Z-
dc.date.available2009-01-28T16:21:40Z-
dc.date.issued2002-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10419/21357-
dc.description.abstractIn 1987 the federal government permitted states to raise the speed limit on their rural interstate roads, but not on their urban interstate roads, from 55 mph to 65 mph for the first time in over a decade. Since the states that adopted the higher speed limit must have valued the travel hours they saved more than the fatalities incurred, this experiment provides a wayto estimate an upper bound on the public?s willingness to trade off wealth for a change in the probability of death. We find that the 65 mph limit increased speeds by approximately 3.5% (i.e., 2 mph), and increased fatality rates by roughly 35%. In the 21 states that raised the speed limit and for whom we have complete data, the estimates suggest that about 125,000 hours were saved per lost life. Valuing the time saved at the average hourly wage impliesthat adopting states were willing to accept risks that resulted in a savings of $1.54 million (1997$) per fatality, with a sampling error that might be around one-third this value. Since this estimate is an upper bound of the value of a statistical life (VSL), we set out a simple structural model that is identified by variability across the states in the probability of the adoption of increased speed limits to recover the VSL. The empirical implementation of thismodel produces estimates of the VSL that are generally smaller that $1.54 million, but these estimates are very imprecise.en
dc.language.isoengen
dc.publisher|aInstitute for the Study of Labor (IZA) |cBonnen
dc.relation.ispartofseries|aIZA Discussion Papers |x571en
dc.subject.jelH43en
dc.subject.jelR4en
dc.subject.jelI18en
dc.subject.jelJ17en
dc.subject.ddc330en
dc.subject.keywordvalue of a statistical lifeen
dc.subject.keywordspeed limitsen
dc.subject.keywordsafety risksen
dc.subject.keywordvalue of timeen
dc.subject.stwGeschwindigkeitsbegrenzungen
dc.subject.stwStraßenverkehrsunfallen
dc.subject.stwKosten-Nutzen-Analyseen
dc.subject.stwSterblichkeiten
dc.subject.stwVereinigte Staatenen
dc.titleUsing Mandated Speed Limits to Measure the Value of a Statistical Life-
dc.typeWorking Paperen
dc.identifier.ppn845973681en
dc.rightshttp://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungenen

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