Professor puts dollar value on love

CANBERRA, Australia, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- An Australian economics professor said he has developed a way to put dollar values on major life events such as birth and marriage.

Paul Fritjers of the Queensland University of Technology Fritjers Research tracked life events and happiness of 10,000 Australians since 2001 and found, for example, the birth of a child makes parents happiest before it happens and a bit less happy several months later, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday.

Fritjers said his analysis resulted in putting a happiness value on a birth at around $8,700 for the mother and $32,000 for the father.

He said he does not know why his calculations indicate men are much more affected by life's incidents but that gives tends to give him "confidence in the calculations."

"We know, for instance, that marriage improves the lives of men much more than women," he said.

"Losing or gaining money can offset the effect of other life events quite well, and that is what we are formally looking at -- the amount needed to offset an event or keep someone happiness-neutral," he said.

Insurance companies and lawyers are interested in the research because they look to dollar amounts needed for compensation, Fritjers said.

Fritjers says his research did not look at the value of a life that is lost.

"That (value) would be much higher," he said.