“The Peltzman Effect is the hypothesized tendency of people to react to a safety regulation by increasing other risky behavior, offsetting some or all of the benefit of the regulation”. Named after Dr. Sam Peltzman, a renowned professor of economics from the University of Chicago Business School, it is a theory he has been espousing since 1975. Dr. Peltzman’s early research dealt with regulatory laws and traffic safety. He and some fellow economists have expanded this theory into other areas of safety. The main premise is that safety regulations may have unintended consequences that counteract the purpose of the rule.
The Peltzman Effect is typified by drivers who take greater risks when driving unsafely. Their cars have more safety features like ABS and air bags, or they are forced to wear seat belts and so they offset the safety advantages by bad driving.
Can we see this reflected in bicycle helmet rules, ostensibly brought in as a precaution against head injury. Personally, a bike helmet never affected the way I rode a bike.
Could the PP as applied to GM crops reflect the Peltzman Effect? The original thinking was to ban GM crops to prevent a biological catastrophe if the GM crops interfered with natural organisms. But by banning the GM crops, are we taking extra environmental risks by pushing industrial agriculture further with tougher pesticides, more land and greater water needs that may be worse than the risks of GM crops?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltzman_effect and http://www.asse.org/academicsjournal/archive/vol4no3/docs/fall07-feature02.pdf
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