Ambiguity, Learning Opportunities, and Risk-Neutral Regulation

Alan Randall, Professor Emeritus in Ohio State's Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics (AEDE) and Honorary Professor of Economics and Agriculture and Environment at the University of Sydney, will present on October 10th in Room 105 of the Agricultural Administration Building (2120 Fyffe Road) as part of the AEDE Applied Economics Seminar Series. His presentation will focus on his recent research: "Ambiguity, Learning Opportunities, and Risk-Neutral Regulation."

Abstract: The idea that government should seek to maximize expected value has currency in many risky contexts: for example, investment of public funds, regulation of risky innovations, and design of climate policy. Here I will report on work that begins by asking whether ambiguity and learning opportunities should encourage risk-taking, and turns eventually to a broader examination of the argument for risk-neutral regulation of pharmaceutical products and medical treatments, interesting cases in their own right but also as metaphors for a broader class of public risks.