Markets and Mortality: Economics, Dangerous Work, and the Value of Human Life

This book provides a critical survey of conventional economic approaches to occupational safety and the analysis of environmental risk in general. The author concludes that unsafe work is not voluntary, that markets do not compensate workers for risk, and that attempts to put a monetary value on life and health are futile. He attributes the shortcomings of economic orthodoxy to its underlying approach to human decision-making and social interaction, and demonstrates that useful alternative approaches are available. The analysis is used to identify policies that combine effective regulation with democratic values.

In this book the author examines and ultimately rejects the conventional economic view that workers who have more dangerous jobs accept their risks voluntarily and are compensated through higher wages. In doing so, he attacks widely used techniques for assigning a monetary value to human life for cost-benefit analysis and other purposes. Arguments are drawn from the history of occupational safety and health, econometric analysis of wage and risk data, and formal models of the labor market. In place of the conventional view, Peter Dorman proposes a view based on new work in decision theory (thick rationality) and the theory of repeated games. These insights are combined with comparative policy analysis to support an approach to risk that promotes both regulatory effectiveness and democratic values. Despite its technical content, the book is written in highly accessible style, and is concerned with matters of general interest in the development of critical social science.