British mortality and the value of life, 1781–1931

Summary

How can we value human life? How should we weight longevity experience in assessing gains in the workers' standard of living since the Industrial Revolution began? What price did the British worker himself place on extended longevity and lower mortality risks? These questions have been at the heart of the standard of living debate at least since Adam Smith raised them in the Wealth of Nations. This paper applies Usher's willingness-to-pay model to British mortality experience between 1781 and 1931, experience which is now far better understood with the recent appearance of Wrigley and Schofield's The Population History of England. While the main body of the paper deals with the average economic gains associated with improvement in longevity, it also briefly discusses the far more difficult issue of class mortality experience and trends in inequality

This paper is part of the British Inequality since 1670 project, which has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The research assistance of George Boyer is greatly appreciated. I also acknowledge helpful discussions with Peter Lindert (a frequent collaborator on the British Inequality project), Ron Lee, Joel Makyr, Dan Usher, and the participants at the Conference on British Demographic History (7–10 March 1982: Asilomar, California).

This paper is part of the British Inequality since 1670 project, which has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The research assistance of George Boyer is greatly appreciated. I also acknowledge helpful discussions with Peter Lindert (a frequent collaborator on the British Inequality project), Ron Lee, Joel Makyr, Dan Usher, and the participants at the Conference on British Demographic History (7–10 March 1982: Asilomar, California).

Notes

This paper is part of the British Inequality since 1670 project, which has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The research assistance of George Boyer is greatly appreciated. I also acknowledge helpful discussions with Peter Lindert (a frequent collaborator on the British Inequality project), Ron Lee, Joel Makyr, Dan Usher, and the participants at the Conference on British Demographic History (7–10 March 1982: Asilomar, California).