Optimists, Pessimists, and the Precautionary Principle

Meglena Jeleva () and Stéphane Rossignol
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Meglena Jeleva: EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: The precautionary principle has emerged as a leading guide to public decision-making about environmental risks under irreversibility and uncertainty. In this paper, we adopt a two-period model with irreversibility and agents differentiated by their degree of optimism to character-ize the conditions under which the precautionary principle applies. We show in particular that it is more often applied if the decision-maker has an intermediate optimism index, if scientific research is more effective at reducing uncertainty, and if the same decision-maker makes the decisions for both periods. Moreover, we show that socially optimal decisions lead to apply the precautionary principle more often than an elected decision-maker does.

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Date: 2019
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Published in Environmental and Resource Economics, 2019

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Journal Article: Optimists, Pessimists, and the Precautionary Principle (2019)
Working Paper: Optimists, Pessimists, and the Precautionary Principle (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02047321

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