People will tell you that a life is priceless. But in a practical sense, a life has both economic and non-economic value to individuals, loved ones and friends. In the damages world, the value of a life is really a question of economic value. While theories of hedonic damages are sometimes put forth that attempt to quantify the non-economic value of one’s life, these esoteric arguments are greeted with high skepticism in the economic damage expert community. There is simply no reasonable way to quantify non-economic value.
But the economic value can often be quantified with a degree of reasonableness. Through a review of case-specific information and statistical data, one can calculate the economic value of a decedent for his or her estate and survivors. In its simplest form, the net economic value of a life is the difference between how much economic value the decedent would have earned or provided and how much it would have cost the decedent to do so.
