MEASUREMENT OF PARAMETERS TO VALUE HUMAN LIFE EXTENSION

• Abstract:

  In safety analysis as in engineering, the development of a satisfactory mathematical model is required to identify the parameters that need to be measured and calculated. The establishment of a proper calculus of safety begins with the recognition that the fundamental concept is life expectancy, and then, by extension, the increase in life expectancy that a safety measure brings about. J-value analysis, which rests on this concept, is a method of estimating how much should be spent on a new safety system to improve health and/or safety, with the amount depending on both actuarial and economic data. Measurements made to quantify the first J-value trade-off between the average person's free-time fraction and his income result in an inferential estimate of the elasticity of marginal utility. This is an important economic parameter in its own right, and moreover feeds into a second trade-off between life expectancy and income, which J-value analysis shows to be the balance that must be struck in evaluating a new safety scheme.
• Keywords:

  J-value, calculus of safety, elasticity of marginal utility
• Download:

  IMEKO-WC-2009-TC7-178.pdf
• DOI:

  _unreg_wc-2009.178

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