When people say shit like that they mean

• normative: not good, immoral (#1416952)
• intangible, priceless: like experiences or moment of beauty.

"For a price theorist, this use of the phrase is confusing.""For a price theorist, this use of the phrase is confusing."

Everything has cost, whether or not someone somewhere thinks it "wrong" to think of it in money terms, or there aren't institutions capable of collecting. Hashtag oxygen.

One often hears people use the phrase in reference to things like the value of human life. This is often meant to convey the idea that a human life is in some sense priceless. It is understandable why people might use the phrase in that context. Often this is attached to religious belief.
At the same time, one can think of many everyday experiences in which people are tasked with estimating the value of human life. Insurance companies must make such determinations. Legislators create rules designed to save lives and regulators must decide how and when to to enforce rules. This requires making a determination about whether the cost of saving an additional life would be worth the cost.

A price is a measure of cost. Even when things aren’t formally priced in markets, people’s actions still reveal the value they place on them.

STATISTICAL VALUE OF LIFESTATISTICAL VALUE OF LIFE

Yes, yes, we economists. We know price: "in a world of finite resources, policymakers face trade-offs. How much should policymakers be willing to spend to save one life?"

Someone who purchases insurance is someone who is trying to smooth out consumption. Absent insurance, a major health issue will shift a lot of consumption towards health care. During those times, the marginal value of a dollar spent on other goods is much higher. Insurance effectively transfers dollars from times when the marginal value of the dollar spent on those goods is lower to a time when the marginal value is higher.

Other version: RBG tries to get fit @realBitcoinDog

These types of expenditures are designed to increase the probability of survival. This isn’t about reallocating disposable income over time. This is about living for a longer period of time.

Price theory can help us sort all of this out. Divide one’s life into two periods. Suppose that the consumer has actuarily fair insurance. The consumer would like to consume in both periods. The consumer must divide income between consumption goods (in both periods) and health expenditures. Greater health expenditures increase the probability of survival (with diminishing returns; the maximum probability is one, after all), but reduce consumption on other goods. The consumer has to decide how much to spend on health expenditures relative to other goods... Price theory tells us that the consumer will choose health expenditures such that the marginal benefit of the last dollar spent is equal to the marginal cost.

"The main implication here is that price theory can be used as a tool to put a price on something even if that something does not have a market price.""The main implication here is that price theory can be used as a tool to put a price on something even if that something does not have a market price."

Nothing super new here, perhaps aside from Josh's observation that risk in dangerous jobs (e.g. job fatality risks falling) and life expectency could both impact analysis of value of statistical life.