The Effect of Product Safety Regulation on Safety Precautions |
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Authors: | W Kip Viscusi Gerald O Cavallo |
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Institution: | Department of Economics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708. |
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Abstract: | This paper explores the means by which lighter safety regulations alter the precautionary behavior of 200 subjects in a field test of cigarette lighters with a child-resistant feature. The new lighter design leads respondents to believe the lighters are safer, but there is no clear-cut evidence that the effect on perceived risk levels is excessive. Using the estimated relationship between cigarette lighter risk perceptions and a variety of measures of precautions, this paper provides explicit estimates of the effect of regulations on precautionary behavior and on lighter safety. On balance, the child-resistant feature will reduce fire-related injuries by much more than any diminished precaution taking. |
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Keywords: | Risk perceptions precautionary behavior safety devices risk homeostasis |
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