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The Value of a Statistical Life in the Context of Road Safety: A New Value Transfer Approach

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dc.contributor.authorWijnen, Wim
dc.contributor.authorDahdah, Said
dc.contributor.authorPkhikidze, Nino
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-20T16:11:50Z
dc.date.available2025-05-20T16:11:50Z
dc.date.issued2025-05-20
dc.description.abstractObjective: The value of a statistical life (VSL) is a key input for cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in the context of road safety and for calculations of the socio-economic costs of road crashes. However, many countries, especially low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), lack country-specific VSL estimates. To address this, value transfer is often used, where VSL estimates from other countries are adapted to local situations to estimate the VSL in the countries with no VSL estimates. This paper presents new guidance for VSL value transfer in the context of road safety. Method: A unit value transfer approach is applied, which implies that a base VSL is determined and used to estimate the VSL in other countries. We collected VSL estimates from 32 countries worldwide to determine base VSLs for both high-income countries (HIC) and LMIC. According to the literature, the VSL is strongly correlated with income per capita. Therefore, income elasticities from the literature are applied to account for the impact of per capita income on the VSL. Results: The resulting VSL transfer functions are VSL = 0.404*(Y/5,726)1.2 for LMIC and VSL = 3.206*(Y/42,087)0.8 for HIC, where VSL is the VSL in million USD and Y is the Gross National Income per capita (USD, 2020 prices). The VSL ranges from approximately 22,000 USD to 1.1 million USD in LMIC and from 1.2 million USD to 4.8 million USD in HIC. Conclusions: We recommend applying this VSL transfer approach for cost-benefit analysis and road crash costing in countries lacking appropriate country-specific VSL. Moreover, this study highlights that, despite the growing interest in LMIC in research on VSL, the number of studies in these countries is still limited, emphasizing the need for more VSL studies. Finally, developing transfer functions for non-fatal injuries is recommended, which is an essential input for CBA as well.en
dc.identifier.citationTraffic Injury Prevention
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1596/43215
dc.identifier.issn1538-957X
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/43215
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherTaylor and Francis
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
dc.subjectVALUE OF A STATISTICAL LIFE
dc.subjectVALUE TRANSFER
dc.subjectROAD SAFETY
dc.subjectCOST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
dc.subjectLOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES
dc.titleThe Value of a Statistical Life in the Context of Road Safety: A New Value Transfer Approachen
dc.typeJournal Article
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.associatedcontenthttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2025.2476607 Journal website (version of record)
okr.date.disclosure2025-05-20
okr.date.doiregistration2025-05-22T02:19:43.451799Z
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Journal Article
okr.externalcontentExternal Content
okr.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2025.2476607
okr.peerreviewAcademic Peer Review
okr.region.geographicalWorld
okr.topicRural Development::Rural Roads & Transport
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Social Protections & Assistance
okr.topicInfrastructure Economics and Finance::Infrastructure Finance
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