The effect of product safety regulation on safety precautions.
This paper explores the means by which lighter safety regulations alter the precautionary behavior of 200 subjects in a field test of cigarette lighters with a child-resistant feature. The new lighter design leads respondents to believe the lighters are safer, but there is no clear-cut evidence that the effect on perceived risk levels is excessive. Using the estimated relationship between cigarette lighter risk perceptions and a variety of measures of precautions, this paper provides explicit estimates of the effect of regulations on precautionary behavior and on lighter safety. On balance, the child-resistant feature will reduce fire-related injuries by much more than any diminished precaution taking.
Department of Economics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708.
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D000056:Accident Prevention; D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003257:Consumer Product Safety / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D018795:Device Approval; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States