TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Mad cows, terrorism and junk food: should public policy reflect perceived or objective risks?
JO  - Journal of health economics
A1  - Johansson-Stenman, Olof
SP  - 234
EP  - 248
VL  - 27
IS  - 2
N2  - Empirical evidence suggests that people's risk-perceptions are often systematically biased. This paper develops a simple framework to analyse public policy when this is the case. Expected utility (well-being) is shown to depend on both objective and perceived risks (beliefs). The latter are important because of the fear associated with the risk and as a basis for corrective taxation and second-best adjustments. Optimality rules for public provision of risk-reducing investments, "internality-correcting" taxation (e.g. fat taxes) and provision of costly information to reduce people's risk-perception bias are presented.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0167-6296
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2007.04.004
ID  - ref1
ER  -