The Social Response to Environmental Risk: Policy Formulation in an Age of Uncertainty (Recent Economic Thought (24))

We have undertaken this volume in the belief that there is now sufficient research completed on environmental risk to justify a retrospective assessment of what is known. Our authors and our intended audience are eclectic indeed. Environ­ mental risk assessment receives increasing attention in the media today. The populace is practically assaulted with stories, with anecdotes, and with conflicting evidence. It is our hope that these chapters will provide the reader with a comprehensive glimpse of a fast-growing field in public policy. No complete survey of the literature would be possible or meaningful. We offer here instead the integrative thoughts of some of the most respected analysts in the field. We believe that the coverage is coherent, the perspectives are illuminating, and the individual "treatments deserving of careful study. We are grateful to Warren Samuels of Michigan State University who is editor of the Kluwer series on recent economic thought. We are also grateful to our Kluwer editor, Zach Rolnik. Both have been gracious in their toleration of unconscionable delays. IX The Social Response to Environmental Risk Policy Formulation in an Age of Uncertainty 1 ENTITLEMENTS AND PUBLIC POLICY IN ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS Daniel W. Bromley\* [all rights] are conditional and derivative ... they are derived from the end or purpose of the society in which they exist. They are conditional on being used to the attainment of that end. This volume addresses a wide range of issues pertaining to the presence of risk in environmental policy. Topics include individual perceptions of risk, the valuation of environmental risks, the reporting and discussion of risks in the media, alternative government roles in addressing environmental risks, and examples of several public policy issues involving risks  biotechnology, hazardous waste facilities, and occupational hazards. These issues are viewed in the context of collective perceptions of entitlements that determine individual and group exposures to environmental risks. The book includes contributions from leading scholars in the field of risk and uncertainty across a number of disciplines including: Howard Kunreuther (decision sciences), Lola Lopes (psychology), V. Kerry Smith (environmental economics), and W. Kip Viscusi (risk and uncertainty) Front Matter....Pages i-xi Entitlements and Public Policy in Environmental Risks....Pages 1-21 Environmental Risk Perception and Valuation: Conventional Versus Prospective Reference Theory....Pages 23-56 Risk Perception and the Perceived Public....Pages 57-74 The Media and Public Perceptions of Risk: How Journalists Frame Risk Stories....Pages 75-100 The Policy Response to Risk and Risk Perceptions....Pages 101-130 Decision Making About Biotechnology: The Costs of Learning from Error....Pages 131-150 Gaining Acceptance for Noxious Facilities with Economic Incentives....Pages 151-186 Occupational Safety and Health in the 1990s....Pages 187-206 Back Matter....Pages 207-216