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Is a rich person's life more valuable than a poor person's?
Read this on the way the costs of climate change are calculated.
In essence, the cost/benefit calculations of carbon emissions assume that saving time for a rich person is more important than saving a poor person from starvation. Why? Because if you look at it in cold, hard dollars, then the rich person's wages per hour are more than the poor person spends on food in a month. Thus, the economic case for a new airport is that it saves money overall as rich people can get places faster. If a person in the third world dies as as a result, the impact on the global economy is negligable.
If you're happy with this assessment of the value of human life, then don't let me stop you from flying...
In essence, the cost/benefit calculations of carbon emissions assume that saving time for a rich person is more important than saving a poor person from starvation. Why? Because if you look at it in cold, hard dollars, then the rich person's wages per hour are more than the poor person spends on food in a month. Thus, the economic case for a new airport is that it saves money overall as rich people can get places faster. If a person in the third world dies as as a result, the impact on the global economy is negligable.
If you're happy with this assessment of the value of human life, then don't let me stop you from flying...