| Description |
xi, 306 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
1. The Fundamental Role of Risk Tradeoffs -- Pt. I. Risk Valuation: Concepts and Estimates. 2. Strategic and Ethical Issues in the Valuation of Life. 3. Evidence on the Value of Life: Case Studies from the Labor Market. 4. A Survey of Values of Risks to Life and Health. 5. Social Insurance for Work and Product Injuries -- Pt. II. Rationality and Individual Responses to Risk. 6. Rational Models of Biases in Risk Perception. 7. Behavioral Anomalies and Paradoxes in Choices under Uncertainty. 8. Sources of Inconsistency in Societal Responses to Health Risks -- Pt. III. Risk Regulation. 9. Risk within Reason. 10. Cotton Dust Regulation: An OSHA Success Story? 11. The Impact of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation, 1972-1975. 12. The Impact of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation, 1973-1983. 13. Consumer Behavior and the Safety Effects of Consumer Product Safety Regulation. 14. The Mis-Specified Agenda: The 1980s Reforms of Health, Safety, and Environmental Regulation |
| Summary |
Ideally, it would be desirable if we could all adopt a high-minded commitment to a risk-free existence. Unfortunately, such an objective is beyond our reach--politicians who advocate higher taxes rarely get elected and economists who indicate that our resources are limited are often portrayed as purveyors of pessimism. Fatal Tradeoffs is the culmination and synthesis of the research of a leading authority on the value of life and risk regulation. This volume comprises Viscusi's work in the social regulation of risk, covering topics relating to the value and empirical estimates of life, the rationality of individual responses to risk, and the role of government policy. In addition to a careful synthesis of selections from his writings, Fatal Tradeoffs includes a new survey of the value-of-life literature and a discussion of the rights of the unborn balanced against the employment rights of the mother. Viscusi examines the first estimates of the value of life that take into account risks other than fatalities, as well as subjective worker perceptions of job risks. The book also includes a review of the 1980s regulatory reforms, and guidelines for risk policy. Balanced with case studies, the more technical articles have been opened up to include policy ramifications, making the text accessible to professionals and academics alike |
| Analysis |
Risks |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [293]-301) and index |
| Subject |
Decision making.
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Life -- Economic aspects.
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Risk.
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Safety regulations -- Economic aspects.
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| LC no. |
91036121 |
| ISBN |
0195072782 (acid-free paper) |
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