"There is a distinction between an individual life and a statistical life. Let a 6-year-old girl with brown hair need thousands of dollars for an operation that will prolong her life until Christmas, and the post office will be swamped with nickels and dimes to save her. But let it be reported that without a sales tax the hospital facilities of Massachusetts will deteriorate and cause a barely perceptible increase in preventable deaths—not many will drop a tear or reach for their checkbooks."
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Academics from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesHarvard University alumniGame theoristsEconomists from California
Original Language: English
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The Life you Save May be Your Own. In: Chase, Samuel B., ed. Problems in Public Expenditure Analysis. Studies of Government Finance. Washington: The Brookings Institution, 1968
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Schelling
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Thomas Schelling
Thomas Crombie Schelling (born 14 April 1921 - 2016) was an American economist and professor of foreign policy, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, College Park. He is also co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was awarded the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (shared with Robert Aumann).
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