"Your money or your life." The choice traditionally presented by the highwayman（拦路强盗） is supposed to have only one sensible answer. Money is, after all, no use to a corpse. Yet economists often study something rather like the highwayman's offer in an attempt to uncover the answer to an
Like many awkward questions, this is one that has to be answered. Safety regulations save lives but also raise the cost of doing business, a cost we all pay through higher prices. Are they worth it? Our taxes pay for life-saving spending on road safety and fire fighting. Are they high enough, or too high?
So how much are we willing to spend to save a life? A traditional planner's approach used to be to measure the value of wages lost due to death or injury. That's dreadful: it confuses（使混乱） what I think my life is worth with what my boss thinks my life is worth.
So an alternative is to ask people how much they would pay for a safer car or kitchen cleaner. But such surveys do not always produce sensible results. Our answers depend on whether we're being offered a safer ?10 household cleaner and then asked if we want the more dangerous ?5 version, or whether we're offered the ? 5 brand and then asked if we'll pay ?10 for the safer product. People often answer "no" to both questions, contradicting themselves. These inconsistencies mean that we're either irrational or lying to pollsters（民意测验专家） , and perhaps both.
Economists therefore tend to prefer observing real choices. If you're willing to cross a busy street to pick up a 20 note, the economist who put it there can infer something
Being a soldier is risky; so is being a drug-dealer or prostitute. The difficulty, evidently, is to disentangle（解开） the health risk and the financial reward from all the other motivations to choose a particular way of life. That isn't easy but economists try.
World Bank economist Paul Gertler and his colleagues reckoned that Mexican prostitutes valued their lives at
There are anomalies. Steve Freakonomics Levitt and sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh calculated that Chicago drug dealers seemed to value their entire lives at $50,000 to $100,000 - low indeed, even for poor young men whose career choice indicates a taste for risks.
Whatever the frailties of these calculations, they are the best we have. And far from cheapening life, this sort of research often highlights just how valuable our safer, healthier modern lives really are. Kevin Murphy of the Chicago Graduate School of Business recently visited London to present his research on the value of health improvements in the US since 1970. They're vast -
And a more personal piece of good news: Murphy reckons the delicious cheeseburger I ate before interviewing him only cost me 1 worth of health. Talk
相关单词：corpse
corpse解释：n.尸体，死尸
corpse例句：
What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。
相关单词：economist
economist解释：n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人
economist例句：
He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。
相关单词：economists
economists解释：n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )
economists例句：
The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
相关单词：irrational
irrational解释：adj.无理性的，失去理性的
irrational例句：
After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。
相关单词：risky
risky解释：adj.有风险的，冒险的
risky例句：
It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
相关单词：earnings
earnings解释：n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得
earnings例句：
That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。
相关单词：sociologist
sociologist解释：n.研究社会学的人，社会学家
sociologist例句：
His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。
相关单词：dealers
dealers解释：n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者
dealers例句：
There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。
相关单词：frailties
frailties解释：n.脆弱( frailty的名词复数 )；虚弱；（性格或行为上的）弱点；缺点
frailties例句：
The fact indicates the economic frailties of this type of farming. 这一事实表明，这种类型的农业在经济上有其脆弱性。 来自辞典例句
He failed therein to take account of the frailties of human nature--the difficulties of matrimonial life. 在此，他没有考虑到人性的种种弱点--夫妻生活的种种难处。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
