IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v545y1996i1p106-115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hazard Communication: Warnings and Risk

Author

Listed:
  • W. KIP VISCUSI
  • RICHARD J. ZECKHAUSER

Abstract

Risk information can alter risk judgments and promote sound risk decisions. Hazard warnings are critical in providing such information. Both right-to-know and duty-to-warn obligations reflect this. Evidence suggests that warnings can significantly affect risk-taking decisions, but care is needed in interpreting whether their influence leads to successful outcomes. Hazard warnings must accommodate individuals' cognitive limitations. Salient problems include recipients who suffer information overload or are unable to grasp adequately the level of risk communicated.

Suggested Citation

  • W. Kip Viscusi & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 1996. "Hazard Communication: Warnings and Risk," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 545(1), pages 106-115, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:545:y:1996:i:1:p:106-115
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716296545001011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716296545001011
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716296545001011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pauline M. Ippolito & Alan D. Mathios, 1990. "Information, Advertising and Health Choices: A Study of the Cereal Market," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(3), pages 459-480, Autumn.
    2. Viscusi, W Kip & O'Connor, Charles J, 1984. "Adaptive Responses to Chemical Labeling: Are Workers Bayesian Decision Makers?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 942-956, December.
    3. Richard J. Arnould & Henry Grabowski, 1981. "Auto Safety Regulation: An Analysis of Market Failure," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(1), pages 27-48, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jahn K. Hakes & W. Kip Viscusi, 2007. "Automobile Seatbelt Usage and the Value of Statistical Life," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 659-676, January.
    2. Christine Jolls, 2007. "Employment Law and the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 13230, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Viscusi, W Kip, 1993. "The Value of Risks to Life and Health," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 1912-1946, December.
    4. W. Kip Viscusi & Gerald O. Cavallo, 1994. "The Effect of Product Safety Regulation on Safety Precautions," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(6), pages 917-930, December.
    5. Andreas Kuhn & Oliver Ruf, 2008. "The Value of a Statistical Injury: New Evidence from the Swiss Labor Market," IEW - Working Papers 367, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    6. Jau-Rong Li & Dawn D. Thilmany, 1998. "Branded pork consumption in Taiwan: Analysis of market and product choice," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(2), pages 127-138.
    7. Allais, Olivier & Etilé, Fabrice & Lecocq, Sébastien, 2015. "Mandatory labels, taxes and market forces: An empirical evaluation of fat policies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 27-44.
    8. Hattori, Keisuke & Higashida, Keisaku, 2014. "Misleading advertising and minimum quality standards," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Jos'e Raimundo Carvalho & Diego de Maria Andr'e & Yuri Costa, 2023. "Individual Updating of Subjective Probability of Homicide Victimization: a "Natural Experiment'' on Risk Communication," Papers 2312.08171, arXiv.org.
    10. Variyam, Jayachandran N. & Blaylock, James R. & Smallwood, David, 1997. "Diet-Health Information and Nutrition: The Intake of Dietary Fats and Cholesterol," Technical Bulletins 156800, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Yokoo, Hide-Fumi & Arimura, Toshi H. & Chattopadhyay, Mriduchhanda & Katayama, Hajime, 2023. "Subjective risk belief function in the field: Evidence from cooking fuel choices and health in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    12. Villas-Boas, Sofia B & Taylor, Rebecca & Krovetz, Hannah, 2016. "Willingness to Pay for Low Water Footprint Food Choices During Drought," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt9vh3x180, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    13. Basit Zafar, 2011. "How Do College Students Form Expectations?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 301-348.
    14. Dohmen, T.J. & Falk, A. & Huffman, D. & Marklein, F. & Sunde, U., 2009. "The non-use of Bayes rule: representative evidence on bounded rationality," Research Memorandum 038, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    15. Ludwig, Alexander & Zimper, Alexander, 2014. "Biased Bayesian learning with an application to the risk-free rate puzzle," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 79-97.
    16. Lin, Wanchuan & Sloan, Frank, 2015. "Risk perceptions and smoking decisions of adult Chinese men," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-73.
    17. Vincenzo Carrieri & Ansgar Wuebker, 2014. "Does the Letter Matter (and for Everyone)? - Quasi-experimental Evidence on the Eff ects of Home Invitation on Mammography Uptake," Ruhr Economic Papers 0491, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    18. Trinidad Beleche & Nellie Lew & Rosemarie L. Summers & J. Laron Kirby, 2018. "Are Graphic Warning Labels Stopping Millions of Smokers? A Comment on Huang, Chaloupka, and Fong," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 15(2), pages 129–157-1, May.
    19. Cameron, Trudy Ann, 2005. "Individual option prices for climate change mitigation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 283-301, February.
    20. Mandal, Bidisha, 2008. "Food Labels and Weight Loss: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6200, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:545:y:1996:i:1:p:106-115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.