IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlstud/v27y1998i2p799-823.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Selective Fatalism

Author

Listed:
  • Sunstein, Cass R

Abstract

Human beings are selectively fatalistic. Some risks appear as "background noise," whereas other, quantitatively identical risks cause enormous concern. This essay explores the reasons for selective fatalism and possible legal responses. Sometimes selective fatalism is a product of distributional issues, as people focus especially on risks that face particular groups; sometimes people adapt their preferences and beliefs so as to reduce concern with risks that they perceive themselves unable to control. Sometimes selective fatalism is a product of heuristics and biases. Finally, selective fatalism can be a product of diverse judgments of value and of unreliable social influences on risk perceptions. Selective fatalism might be overcome by an emphasis, as a regulatory starting point, on how many "decently livable life-years" might be saved by regulation. Copyright 1998 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Sunstein, Cass R, 1998. "Selective Fatalism," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 799-823, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlstud:v:27:y:1998:i:2:p:799-823
    DOI: 10.1086/468043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/468043
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/468043?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guilhem Lecouteux, 2015. "In Search of Lost Nudges," Post-Print halshs-01426493, HAL.
    2. Louis Jaeck, 2011. "Information and political failures: to what extent does rational ignorance explain irrational beliefs formation?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 287-301, September.
    3. Guilhem Lecouteux, 2013. "A Reformulation of Libertarian Paternalism," Working Papers hal-00850533, HAL.
    4. Iván Darío Gómez Lee, 2016. "La Seguridad Jurídica. Una Teoría Multidisciplinaria Aplicada A Las Instituciones Vol.Ii," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 851, May.

    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:ucp:jlstud:v:27:y:1998:i:2:p:799-823. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JLS .

    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.