Which Half?

From the abstract for "Your Right Arm for a Publication in AER?" by Arthur E. Attema, Werner Brouwer and Job Van Exel:

The time tradeoff (TTO) method is popular in medical decision making for valuing health states. We use it to elicit economists’ preferences for publishing in top economic journals and living without limbs. The economists value the journals highly, and have a clear preference between them, with American Economic Review (AER) the most preferred. Their responses imply they would sacrifice more than half a thumb for publishing in AER.