KarunaNews Story

How much is a life worth? Economists have done the math, and it turns out that the number varies by country and an American life is worth about $9 million. As cold-blooded as it sounds, that figure is known as the value of statistical life, and it's the basis for all kinds of high-stakes decisions that involve tradeoffs between public safety and economic costs from food and automobile regulations to our responses to climate change.