Risk, wellbeing, and public policy

Subho Banerjee and Robert Ewing

Risk, wellbeing, and public policy

Risk is a long-standing consideration for policy professionals, behavioural economists, and others. It can also be thought about as a dimension of wellbeing, with different people having different preferences for how much risk they are willing to bear. Governments will typically try to reduce risk to people, but in some situations, government actions can increase risk.