Valuing Foreign Lives

Authors

Arden Rowell, University of Illinois College of Law
Lesley Wexler, University of Illinois College of Law

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Should government actors allocate scarce domestic resources to protect the lives of foreign persons? This Article argues that foreign life valuation poses distinctive psychological, philosophical, social, political, and economic challenges, and analyzes current U.S. practices of foreign life valuation in light of these challenges. After identifying multiple possible methods of foreign life valuation, we suggest that the best default valuation method would allocate domestic resources according to domestic willingness to pay to protect foreign lives.

Recommended Citation

Rowell, Arden and Wexler, Lesley (2014) "Valuing Foreign Lives," Georgia Law Review: Vol. 48: No. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol48/iss2/5