Article ID: | iaor2006779 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 8 |
Issue: | 7/8 |
Start Page Number: | 569 |
End Page Number: | 581 |
Publication Date: | Oct 2005 |
Journal: | Journal of Risk Research |
Authors: | Campbell Scott |
Keywords: | cost benefit analysis |
The risk journal literature lacks a clear and simple account of the conceptual issues involved in determining the overall risk of an action, and in explaining how risk is additive. This article attempts to bring a measure of clarity to these issues in as basic and non-technical a way as possible. First of all, the view that risk is ‘expected harm’ is explained. The view that risk is a quantitative concept is then defended. The distinction between the risk run by doing action