A little philosophy (value theory) today.
Personally, I think it would be madness to stick a monetary value on people’s lives and base our policy choices on whether the dollars on one side of the ledger outweigh those on the other. I wrote a book about that a while ago. The considerations that lead us to think primarily in public health terms at a time like this apply just as well to other issues, from food safety to climate change. The economists who crank out monetary values of life and believe all choices should be based on benefit-cost thinking have not yet had the integrity to step forward and make their case. This silence speaks volumes.Econospeak
Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Coronavirus
Peter Dorman | Professor of Political Economy, The Evergreen State College
See also (dark humor)
4 comments:
Jimmy Dore's piece:
https://youtu.be/K6DQBG8D4X4
Larry Kudlow is a boomer, isn't he?
It also misses the point that the value of a statistical life would not be the only metric, not the only cost. So the anti-CBA argument is painfully simplistic. And in any competent BCA, the dollar value is just notional -- an easier computation than using, say, utils.
“ base our policy choices on whether the dollars on one side of the ledger outweigh those on the other.”
This moron thinks dollars are REAL....
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