Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/333612 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 18173
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Although wage rates are lower when employers have monopsony power, we find that the value of a statistical life (VSL) is not reduced when labor markets are more concentrated. Because the estimated VSL is the product of the wage and the wage-risk tradeoff rate, a greater tradeoff rate in highly concentrated U.S. labor markets produces a larger VSL. The general relationship we find is robust with respect to different labor market data. Our results provide the first evidence contradicting policy-related concerns that the VSL is lower in monopsonistic labor markets.
Subjects: 
value of a statistical life
VSL
monopsony
concentration
HHI
JEL: 
J17
J42
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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