How much is a human life worth? Federal agencies have to answer this question all the time — whether it's to decide on adding safety labels to hazardous materials or when it becomes worth it to reopen the economy after a pandemic. It's a tough question to answer, but they do have a number they use. They say a human life is worth about $10 million. This is the story of how they got that number.
And since this story took place in the 1980s, we filmed it in the style of an '80s movie!
Listen to the original Planet Money podcast episode here! Subscribe to our video series here — and while you're at it, subscribe to our podcast.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
