Should We Put a Dollar Value on Human Life?

Principle of Charity

Leading economist Gigi Foster lets us in on the dirty little secret - our lives have been given a dollar value, and it’s used by governments to make a whole range of decisions, from whether we’re given that life saving medicine, to when to shut down an economy because of a pandemic. Covid19 has let us into this secret room, as we as a society grapple with how much economic pain we should suffer to protect the lives of the elderly and vulnerable. One of Gigi’s most articulate critics, moral philosopher Matt Beard, joins Gigi as we unpack the pros and cons of putting a dollar value on the most precious thing of all - our lives.

Gigi Foster is a Professor with the School of Economics at the University of New South Wales. Educated at Yale and the University of Maryland, in 2019 she was named Young Economist of the Year by the Economic Society of Australia. Gigi is one of Australia’s leading economics communicators, and co-hosts The Economists, a national economics talk-radio program on ABC Radio National.

Matt Beard is a moral philosopher with a background in applied and military ethics. He has taught philosophy and ethics at university for several years. Matt is extensively published, a columnist with New Philosopher magazine, and a podcaster on the ABC’s Short & Curly program.

Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman.

You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram.

You can find Emile at: @EmileSherman on Twitter, @EmileSherman on Linkedin,

You can find Lloyd at: @Lloydvogelman on Linkedin

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Produced by Jonah Primo @Jonahprimo on Instagram.

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