The Effect of Product Safety Regulation on Safety Precautions

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Abstract
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.

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