Oregon Law Review : Vol. 89, No. 4, p. 1313-1356 : Health Inflation, Wealth Inflation, and the Discounting of Human Life
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Datum
2011
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University of Oregon School of Law
Zusammenfassung
This Article presents two new arguments against “discounting”
future human lives during cost-benefit analysis, arguing that even
absent ethical objections to the disparate treatment of present and
future humanity, the economic calculations of cost-benefit analysis
itself—if properly performed—counsel against discounting lives at
anything close to current rates. In other words, even if society sets
aside all concerns with the discounting of future generations in
principle, current discounting of future human lives cannot be
justified even on the discounters’ own terms. First, because cost-benefit
analysis has thus far ignored evidence of rising health care
expenditures, it underestimates the “willingness to pay” for health and
safety that future citizens will likely exhibit, thereby undervaluing
their lives. Second, cost-benefit analysis ignores the trend of
improved material conditions in developed countries. As time
advances, residents of rich countries tend to live better and spend
more, meaning that a strict economic monetization of future persons
values the lives of our expected descendents above those of present
citizens. These two factors justify “inflation” of future lives that
would offset, perhaps completely, the discount rate used for human
life. Until regulators correct their method of discounting the benefits
of saving human lives in the future, the United States will continue to
suffer the fatal costs of under-regulation, and agencies will remain in
violation of legal requirements to maximize net benefits.
Beschreibung
44 p.
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Zitierform
89 Or. L. Rev. 1313 (2011)