Abstract

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Bad Deaths

Cass R. Sunstein
Harvard University - Harvard Law School

JOURNAL OF RISK AND UNCERTAINTY, Vol. 14, No. 3, February 1997

Abstract:
Evidence is presented to show that people are willing to pay a premium to avoid "bad deaths"--deaths that are especially dreaded, uncontrollable, involuntarily incurred, and inequitably distributed. Public judgments of this kind help explain the demand for regulation. But some of these judgments do not justify current policies because they stem from selective attention and confusion. Few causes of death are entirely uncontrollable or faced wholly involuntarily; the issue is not whether they can be controlled but at what cost. But three kinds of "bad deaths" deserve special attention: those imposing high externalities, those preceded by unusual pain and suffering, and those producing distributional inequity.

JEL Classifications: I1, K2

Accepted Paper Series

Date posted: April 16, 1997 ; Last revised: December 05, 1997

Suggested Citation

Sunstein, Cass R., Bad Deaths. JOURNAL OF RISK AND UNCERTAINTY, Vol. 14, No. 3, February 1997. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=4828

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Contact Information

Cass R. Sunstein (Contact Author)

Harvard University - Harvard Law School ( email )

1575 Massachusetts Ave
Areeda Hall 225
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-496-2291 (Phone)