Living healthy and living long: Valuing the nonpecuniary loss from disability and death

This analysis uses three valuation approaches - risk-risk tradeoff, paired risk-dollar comparison, and utility function estimation - to estimate the nonpecuniary cost associated with disability in late life. In addition, we obtain an estimate of the value of life using a paired risk-dollar comparison. The data were obtained from interviews with 548 persons using an iterative computerized questionnaire. Respondents reported a median value of life of $12 million. They were willing-to-pay .7-1.4 million to avoid disability in late life or approximately $47-$95 thousand for each year of disability over age 62. The results were robust to the valuation technique employed.

Duke Scholars

Author Frank A. Sloan Economics