Racial Differences in Labor Market Values of a Statistical Life

This article constructs measures of job fatality rates for black and white workers using information on job-related fatalities from 1992-1997. The fatality rates for black employees are somewhat greater than those for whites. Each of these groups receives significant compensating wage differentials...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of risk and uncertainty 2003-12, Vol.27 (3), p.239-256
Main Author: VISCUSI, W. KIP
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Business risks
Compensation
Construction industries
Death
Discrimination
Employees
Estimates
Evaluation
Expected utility
Fatalities
Financial risk
Health risks
Labor market
Labor markets
Labour market
Mortality
Occupational accidents
Physical trauma
Public policy
Race
Racial differences
Racial discrimination
Racial inequality
Real estate industry
Risk
Safety
Standard error
Statistical methods
Studies
Uncertainty
Wage differential
Wages
Wages & salaries
White people
Workers compensation
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Summary:This article constructs measures of job fatality rates for black and white workers using information on job-related fatalities from 1992-1997. The fatality rates for black employees are somewhat greater than those for whites. Each of these groups receives significant compensating wage differentials for fatality risks, controlling for nonfatal risks and expected workers' compensation benefits. The implicit value of a statistical life is lower for black workers than for whites. These results in conjunction with evidence that blacks receive less annual compensation for fatality risks than do whites imply that black and white workers face different market offer curves that are flatter for blacks than for whites.
ISSN:0895-5646
1573-0476
DOI:10.1023/A:1025893226730