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The option value of life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2020

Susanne Burri Open the ORCID record for Susanne Burri [Opens in a new window]
Susanne Burri*
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, LondonWC2A 2AE, UK
*
Email: s.burri@lse.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper argues that under conditions of uncertainty, there is frequently a positive option value to staying alive when compared to the alternative of dying right away. This value can make it prudentially rational for you to stay alive even if it appears highly unlikely that you have a bright future ahead of you. Drawing on the real options approach to investment analysis, the paper explores the conditions under which there is a positive option value to staying alive, and it draws out important implications for the problems of suicide and euthanasia.

Keywords

Real options approachuncertaintyDeprivation Account of the Badness of Deathsuicideeuthanasia
Type
Article
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 37 , Special Issue 1: Special Issue on Ethics of Economic Ordeals , March 2021 , pp. 118 - 138
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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