Document Type
Article
Publication Title
The Journal of Legal Studies
Publication Date
1-2005
ISSN
0047-2530
Page Number
27
Keywords
terrorists, risk assessments, recollection bias
Disciplines
Law | Military, War, and Peace
Abstract
Survey respondents assessed the risks of terrorist attacks and their consequences and were asked how their assessments changed from before September 11 to the present. This paper analyzes those current and recollected risk assessments. More than half of the respondents exhibited what we label "recollection bias": looking backward from 2002, 2003, or 2004, they reported that their forward-looking risk assessments did not rise after September 11. However, government expenditures and policies and evidence from insurance markets suggest that there were major risk increases in estimated risks. Respondents were generally witting to support airplane passenger profiling when the time costs of alternative policies were great and were supportive of strengthened surveillance policies to address terrorism risks as well. However, individuals suffering from recollection bias are less supportive. We label as "recollection choice bias" a link between policy choices and recollection bias.
Recommended Citation
W. Kip Viscusi and Richard J. Zeckhauser,
Recollection Bias and the Combat of Terrorism, 34 The Journal of Legal Studies. 27
(2005)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/105