Abstract
The precautionary principle (PP), as it appears in international treaties or in some countries’ legal systems, suggests that the prospect of scientific progress should not justify the delay of preventive measures. Three effects identified in the economics literature – the irreversibility, the precautionary and the ambiguity aversion effects – may be consistent with the normative content of the PP. A difficult question is how then the PP can be implemented. Several social actors may want to take advantage of a current lack of scientific evidence to promote their own interests. The PP can also be misused, for example, for demagogy or protectionism.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Arrow, K., and A. Fischer. 1974. Environmental preservation, uncertainty and irreversibility. Quarterly Journal of Economics 88: 312–319.
Blackwell, D. 1951. Comparison of experiments. In Proceedings of the second Berkeley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability, ed. J. Neyman. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chen, Z., and L. Epstein. 2002. Ambiguity, risk, and asset returns in continuous time. Econometrica 70: 1403–1443.
Commission of the European Communities. 2000. Communication from the Commission on the Precautionary Principle. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Online. Available at http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2000/ com2000_0001en01.pdf. Accessed 23 Mar 2006.
Epstein, L. 1980. Decision-making and the temporal resolution of uncertainty. International Economic Review 21: 269–284.
Gilboa, I., and D. Schmeidler. 1989. Maximin expected utility with non-unique prior. Journal of Mathematical Economics 18: 141–153.
Gollier, C., B. Jullien, and N. Treich. 2000. Scientific progress and irreversibility: An economic interpretation of the Precautionary Principle. Journal of Public Economics 75: 229–253.
Gollier, C., and N. Treich. 2003. Decision-making under scientific uncertainty: The economics of the Precautionary Principle. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 27: 77–103.
Hammitt, J., J. Wiener, B. Swedlow, D. Kall, and Z. Zhou. 2005. Precautionary regulation in Europe and in the United States: A quantitative comparison. Risk Analysis 25: 1215–1228.
Henry, C. 1974. Investment decisions under uncertainty: The ‘irreversibility effect’. American Economic Review 64: 1006–1012.
Jones, J., and R. Ostroy. 1984. Flexibility and uncertainty. Review of Economic Studies 6: 13–32.
Kimball, M. 1990. Precautionary savings in the small and in the large. Econometrica 61: 53–73.
Morris, J. 2000. Defining the precautionary principle. In Rethinking risk and the precautionary principle, ed. J. Morris. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Na, S., and H. Shin. 1998. International environmental agreements under uncertainty. Oxford Economic Papers 50: 173–185.
O’Riordan, T., and J. Cameron, eds. 1994. Interpreting the precautionary principle. London: Earthscan Publications.
Sunstein, C. 2005. Laws of fear: Beyond the precautionary principle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ulph, A., and D. Ulph. 1997. Global warming, irreversibility and learning. Economic Journal 107: 636–650.
UNGA (United Nations General Assembly). 1992. Report of the United Nations conference on environment and development. Annex I: Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June. A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. I) of 12 August. Online. Available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm. Accessed 30 Mar 2006.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Gollier, C., Treich, N. (2018). Precautionary Principle. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2397
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2397
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences