Risk and Precaution

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.

• List of figures; List of boxes; Acknowledgements; Part I. The Precautionary Principle – Why So Much Fuss about Such a Simple Idea?: 1. Precaution as common sense: 'look before you leap'; 2. Commonsense precaution or paralysis of fear?; Part II. Harm and Chance – Managing Risk: 3. Harm, risk, and threat; 4. ORM – risk management as we know it; 5. Problems with ordinary risk management; Part III. Defining and Justifying a Coherent Precautionary Principle: 6. A defensible precautionary principle must withstand these challenges; 7. Toward a PP framework – evidence, threat, and remedy; 8. Threat and evidence; 9. Remedy; 10. Precaution for utilitarians?; 11. A robust and defensible precautionary principle; Part IV. Precaution in Action: 12. Precaution: from principle to policy; 13. Integrated risk management; Part V. Conclusion: 14. A role for precaution in an integrated risk management framework; References; Index.

'This book is indeed an extraordinary accomplishment. It is a sophisticated, in-depth treatment of risk management in all of its complexities and complications. Numerous intellectual disciplines and subject matter fields are integrated to examine risk management in public policy. Randall's quest is to explore whether there is need in public policy for precautions, or safety margins, above and beyond that provided by ordinary risk management. The book demonstrates that for many situations ordinary risk management serves society well. Yet there are damaging events of infrequent occurrence but of major consequence, where ordinary risk management fails. His solution is to advance what he labels 'integrated risk management' which includes precautions not provided by ordinary risk management. His distinction between 'principles' and 'rules' in public policy formation alone makes reading the book worthwhile.' Emery N. Castle, Professor Emeritus, Oregon State University and Senior Fellow Emeritus and President Emeritus, Resources for the Future