After developing a conceptual analysis of consumer valuation of multiple risks, we explore both economic and cognitive hypotheses regarding individual risk-taking. Using a sample of over 1,500 consumers, our study ascertains risk-dollar tradeoffs for the risks associated with using an...

Using a sample of manufacturing industries from 1973 to 1983, this article reexamines OSHA's impact on workplace safety. Evidence supporting OSHA's effectiveness is stronger than that presented in most previous studies but remains quite mixed. Only for the incidence of lost workday injuries and...

This article explores the effects of workers' compensation on fatality rates and wages using the 1982 Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the new occupational fatality data issued by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The fatality rate depends upon the workers'...

On the basis of data from a survey of almost 400 consumers, this article assesses whether consumer behavior is responsive to information about product hazards that is provided in response to regulation. We find that the extent to which consumers take precautions is consistent with the level of...

Risk regulations directly reduce risks, but they may produce offsetting risk increases. Regulated risks generate a substitution effect, as individuals' risk-averting actions will diminish. Recognition of these effects alters benefit-cost criteria and the value-of-life estimates pertinent to...