EconNerds: Can You Put a Price on Life? Yes.

Econ Nerds is a digital media channel of the Mercatus Center, focused on illuminating the economics in the world around us through fun, contemporary media.

How do we address risk in public policy? What is the value of a statistical life (VSL)—and why does the government put a price on life? In this episode of Econ Nerds, we tackle one of the most important issues in public policy: comparing risks and making tradeoffs when lives are on the line. Why are people so bad at judging risk? And how did economists build tools that help policymakers make better decisions?

NODEHAUS handled the post-production for this piece — from ingesting, editing, motion-graphics animation, sound and color.

• Credits

  Client: EconNerds, Mercatus Center

  Production Co: NODEHAUS

  Writer & Host: Matt Hill

  Producer, Editing Manager: Roman Hardgrave

  Editor: Triston Centretto

  Graphics: Triston Centretto, Brandon McDowell