Using the Value of a Statistical Life to Measure the Benefit from the Clean Air Act: Comment

The benefit-cost study of the Clean Air Act conducted by the EPA a decade ago found that the benefit from that act far exceeds its cost. However, 85% of that benefit came from the EPA's valuation of the lives saved by the act. This valuation was based on estimates of the statistical value of a life, the majority of which were made using a hedonic wage equation. The analysis presented here shows that such a valuation may not accurately capture willingness to pay for improved air quality. In fact, it is only capable of doing so in a very special case, when air quality does not affect the probability of developing non-fatal conditions.