Non-stationary societal willingness-to-pay and value of a statistical life
ICONHIC 2026, Chania, Greece
Extends life-safety valuations to changing economic and demographic conditions, with implications for long-term safety investments.
Research stream
Risk acceptance and safety
What levels of safety should society seek?
Safety decisions reflect societal preferences and the resources available. We study how economic growth, population ageing, and changing mortality influence the value of life-safety benefits. These relationships inform safety targets and the allocation of resources across generations.
Questions we study
How should safety targets evolve?
We examine how socioeconomic, demographic, and climatic changes affect the conditions underlying safety requirements.
Whose benefits are considered?
Our work connects the consequences of infrastructure decisions to the well-being of present and future populations.
What use of resources is justified?
We investigate the balance between life-safety benefits, environmental impacts, and the resources needed to achieve them.
Methods
- Societal risk assessment
- Life-quality and utility models
- Safety targets and code calibration
Selected publications
All publicationsProgressive collapse of a timber frame building subjected to single- and multi-column damage scenarios
PROTECT 2024, Singapore (proceedings published 2025)
Connects simulated collapse to life-quality-based societal consequences, showing why material losses alone can understate the consequences in the studied scenarios.