IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/riskan/v7y1987i1p97-107.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Radon Risk Information and Voluntary Protection: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • F. Reed Johnson
  • Ralph A. Luken

Abstract

This study examines the perceived risks and mitigating behavior of Maine households who received new information on their exposures to significant health risks from indoor radon. The observed responses of these households illustrate conceptual issues related to designing an effective risk information program. Despite the involvement of generally well‐motivated homeowners and well‐intentioned researchers and government officials, we conclude that the risk information approach used in Maine failed to induce appropriate, cost‐effective voluntary protection. The results indicate that, after receiving radon test results, information on associated health risks, and suggestions on how to reduce exposures: (1) perceived risks tended to understate objective risks by orders of magnitude, and (2) there was no statistically significant relationship between mitigating behavior and objective risks. These results suggest that the formation of risk perceptions and subsequent behavioral adjustments involve complex interactions among information, contextual, socioeconomic, and psychological variables. Therefore, government programs that seek to reduce health and safety risks with information programs, instead of using more conventional enforced standards, must be crafted very carefully to accommodate this complex process.

Suggested Citation

  • F. Reed Johnson & Ralph A. Luken, 1987. "Radon Risk Information and Voluntary Protection: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(1), pages 97-107, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:7:y:1987:i:1:p:97-107
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1987.tb00973.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.1987.tb00973.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1539-6924.1987.tb00973.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ippolito, Pauline M, 1981. "Information and the Life Cycle Consumption of Hazardous Goods," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(4), pages 529-558, October.
    2. Viscusi, W. Kip, 1984. "Regulating uncertain health hazards when there is changing risk information," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 259-273, December.
    3. Schoemaker, Paul J H, 1982. "The Expected Utility Model: Its Variants, Purposes, Evidence and Limitations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 529-563, June.
    4. Cohen, Michael D & Axelrod, Robert, 1984. "Coping with Complexity: The Adaptive Value of Changing Utility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(1), pages 30-42, March.
    5. Hirshleifer, J & Riley, John G, 1979. "The Analytics of Uncertainty and Information-An Expository Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1375-1421, December.
    6. Diamond, Peter & Rothschild, Michael (ed.), 1978. "Uncertainty in Economics," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780122148507.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Robert E. O'Connor & Richard J. Bard & Ann Fisher, 1999. "Risk Perceptions, General Environmental Beliefs, and Willingness to Address Climate Change," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 461-471, June.
    2. Branden B. Johnson, 2003. "Do Reports on Drinking Water Quality Affect Customers' Concerns? Experiments in Report Content," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(5), pages 985-998, October.
    3. Branden B. Johnson, 2003. "Communicating Air Quality Information: Experimental Evaluation of Alternative Formats," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(1), pages 91-103, February.
    4. Richard C. Rich & W. David Conn, 1995. "Using Automated Emergency Notification Systems to Inform the Public: A Field Experiment," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 23-28, February.
    5. Paul M. Jakus & W. Douglass Shaw, 1996. "An Empirical Analysis of Rock Climbers' Response to Hazard Warnings," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 581-586, August.
    6. James K. Doyle & Gary H. McClelland & William D. Schulze & Steven R. Elliott & Glenn W. Russell, 1991. "Protective Responses to Household Risk: A Case Study of Radon Mitigation," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 121-134, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Catherine Rouzaud, 1983. "Anticipations rationnelles et information révélée par les prix : une introduction," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 34(6), pages 1116-1144.
    2. Agricultural Economics Department, 1989. "Public Choices and Private Risks: The Role of Economic Analysis," 1989 Quantifying Long Run Agricultural Risks and Evaluating Farmer Responses to Risk Meeting, April 9-12, 1989, Sanibel Island, Florida 271521, Regional Research Projects > S-232: Quantifying Long Run Agricultural Risks and Evaluating Farmer Responses to Risk.
    3. Dionne, Georges & Harrington, Scott, 2017. "Insurance and Insurance Markets," Working Papers 17-2, HEC Montreal, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management.
    4. Abdui Rahim Al-Saati, 2003. "The Permissible Gharar (Risk) in Classical Islamic Jurisprudence الغرر المسموح به في الشريعة الإسلامية," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 16(2), pages 3-19, January.
    5. John J. McCall, 1982. "Introduction to "The Economics of Information and Uncertainty"," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Information and Uncertainty, pages -11, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Lurås, Hilde, 2009. "A healthy lifestyle: The product of opportunities and preferences," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2001:11, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    7. van Riel, A.C.R. & Lievens, A., 2003. "New service development in high tech sectors: a decision making perspective," Research Memorandum 013, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    8. Harin, Alexander, 2006. "Scientific Revolution? A Farewell to EconWPA. MPRA is welcome," MPRA Paper 71, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Gatti, Nicolas & Cecil, Michael & Baylis, Kathy & Estes, Lyndon & Blekking, Jordan & Heckelei, Thomas & Vergopolan, Noemi & Evans, Tom, 2023. "Is closing the agricultural yield gap a “risky” endeavor?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    10. Arie Y Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2020. "Absorptive capacity, socially enabling mechanisms, and the role of learning from trial and error experiments: A tribute to Dan Levinthal’s contribution to international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1568-1579, December.
    11. Paul Downward, "undated". "Risk, Uncertainty and Inference in Post Keynesian Economics:A Realist Commentary," Working Papers 98-8, Staffordshire University, Business School.
    12. Francisco Alcalá & Miguel González‐Maestre, 2012. "Artistic Creation and Intellectual Property: A Professional Career Approach," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 633-672, September.
    13. Wlömert, Nils & Papies, Dominik, 2016. "On-demand streaming services and music industry revenues — Insights from Spotify's market entry," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 314-327.
    14. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2006. "Environmental Morale and Motivation," CREMA Working Paper Series 2006-17, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    15. Hoon S. Choi & Darrell Carpenter & Myung S. Ko, 2022. "Risk Taking Behaviors Using Public Wi-Fi™," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 965-982, June.
    16. Ole Røgeberg & Morten Nordberg, 2005. "A defence of absurd theories in economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 543-562.
    17. John Jackson, 2014. "Location, location, location: the Davis-Hinich model of electoral competition," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 197-218, April.
    18. Luís Santos-Pinto & Adrian Bruhin & José Mata & Thomas Åstebro, 2015. "Detecting heterogeneous risk attitudes with mixed gambles," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 79(4), pages 573-600, December.
    19. Michaël Lainé, 2014. "Vers une alternative au paradigme de la rationalité ? Victoires et déboires du programme spinoziste en économie," Post-Print hal-01335618, HAL.
    20. Christopher Prendergast, 1993. "Rationality, Optimality, and Choice," Rationality and Society, , vol. 5(1), pages 47-57, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:7:y:1987:i:1:p:97-107. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.