Citation

Dardis R. J. Consum. Aff. 1983; 17(2): 245-261.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1983, American Council on Consumer Interests, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1745-6606.1983.tb00302.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A utility analysis of decisions involving risk indicated that risk averse consumers would undertake a risk reduction strategy as long as the change in expected loss was equal to or greater than the costs of the strategy. Cost-benefit analysis of seat belt usage was conducted to test this hypothesis. The results indicated that drivers of all size classes would gain from using seat belts in the case of low user costs while the drivers of subcompacts and compacts would gain in the case of higher user costs. However, less than one-fifth of drivers wear seat belts. These results raise questions concerning the effectiveness of the informed buyer approach in areas of risk or uncertainty.