Risk and Precaution

Alan Randall

Feb 2011 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

The precautionary principle has been labeled simplistic and the rational approach to decision-making under risk was modeled on well-specified games of chance. How then are we to manage the risks, uncertainties, and 'unknown unknowns' of the real world? In this book, Alan Randall unravels the key controversies surrounding the precautionary principle and develops a new framework that can be taken seriously in policy and management circles. Respecting the complexity of the real world, he defines a justifiable role for the precautionary principle in a risk management framework that integrates precaution with elements of the standard risk management model. This is explained using examples from medicine, pharmacy, synthetic chemicals, nanotechnology, the environment and natural resources conservation. This carefully reasoned but highly accessible book will appeal to readers from a broad range of disciplines, including environmental policy, risk management and cost-benefit analysis.

Ratings and reviews

Randall uses complex systems and types of uncertainty to make a powerful case for the limitations of traditional risk management, instead proposing the use of Precautionary Principle in a range of situations to head off catastrophic disaster. The best part of the book is the clarity of writing. Since Randall wants to systematically cover a lot of concepts that will not necessarily be familiar to all his readers, the middle section is a wonderful primer on fundamentals for these concepts. Although I actually disagree with his conclusions, this is an essential read which covers a lot of ground I haven't seen others cover so comprehensively or so clearly.

About the author

Alan Randall is Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Sydney, having served previously at Ohio State University for 25 years, 12 of them as department chair. He specializes in environmental economics and policy, with particular interests in environmental risk; biodiversity, habitat and environmental sustainability; environmental regulation, monitoring, and enforcement; and the benefits and costs of environmental projects and programs. His writings include Making the Environment Count: Selected Essays (Edward Elgar, 1999), Resource Economics: An Economic Approach to Natural Resource and Environmental Policy (Wiley, 1981, 1987; and Elgar, 2010 with John C. Bergstrom), and numerous journal articles. He is active in professional associations and on editorial boards, and has served on the National Research Council standing committee on human dimensions of global change and several NRC panels dealing with environmental policy issues. Professor Randall is a Fellow of three scholarly societies (the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists), has received Ohio State University Awards for Distinguished Scholarship and Distinguished Faculty Service, and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Sydney and the Norwegian University of Environment and Life Sciences.