Climate Change, Large Risks, Small Risks, and the Value Per Statistical Life

We conducted a contingent valuation survey in Spain and the UK to elicit the WTP for reductions in the mortality risks associated with heat waves. Using two different approaches to communicate heat-related risks, we arrive at very similar VSL figures (€ 2.2 million in Spain and € 2.4 million in the UK). The VSL is, within each country, the same across the two alternate presentations of the risks and risk reductions. These figures are somewhat at odds with the findings from a series of choices between Program A and Program B, where program A saves lives during heat waves and B saves lives from one of three other possible causes of death. A second series of “person tradeoffs” focuses on specific age groups. While the VSL responses exhibit good internal validity, we are unable to link the equivalence numbers from the person tradeoffs to respondent sociodemographics and risk perceptions