Abstract
A catastrophic risk exists when there is a chance (albeit a small chance) of a project going very badly wrong, with extremely severe human and environmental consequences. Should such projects be undertaken? The issue is related to those which Richard Lecomber explored in his Economic Growth Versus the Environment (1975). The empirical analogues of my discussion here are nuclear power stations and certain types of chemical plant.
For helpful comments and/or discussion, I am grateful to Roger Bowles, Stella Collard, Stephen Jenkins, David Pearce, Richard Pryke, David Ulph and Andy Whittingham. The responsibility for any remaining errors is mine.
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© 1988 David Collard, David Pearce, and David Ulph
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Collard, D. (1988). Catastrophic Risk: or the Economics of Being Scared. In: Collard, D., Pearce, D., Ulph, D. (eds) Economics, Growth and Sustainable Environments. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19014-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19014-0_6
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