We provide the first evidence that spatial variation in all-cause mortality risk is capitalized into
US housing prices. Using a hedonic framework, we recover the annual implicit cost of a 0.1
percentage-point reduction in mortality risk among older Americans and find that this figure is
both relatively low and decreasing in age, from $1,346 for a 67 year old to $246 for an 87 year
old. These estimates are one-fifth of the size of comparable estimates found in the labor market,
suggesting that the housing market provides an alternative, substantially cheaper channel to
reducing mortality risk.
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