The Society for Risk Analysis’ Economics and Benefits Analysis Specialty Group (EBASG) focuses on the use of economic analyses to support risk management decisions. These analyses provide information on the costs, benefits, and other impacts of alternative approaches for reducing risks. Our goals include encouraging better integration between risk assessors, economists, and others involved in risk management decisions, as well as enhancing the data and methods available for conducting economic analyses.
Recent News and Events
- Submissions for the 2010 SRA Annual Meeting are due June 4; see the SRA event page for more information. We hope you will consider organizing a workshop or symposium as well as submitting an abstract for an individual presentation or poster. If you are a graduate student, you are also eligible for the EBASG Merit Award. Some examples of possible topics are available in our April newsletter, which is posted on our Discussion Group site as well as on our links page. The EBASG Officers would be happy to answer any questions or to help you organize a seminar or workshop; links to our email addresses are available on the officers page of this site.
- In December 2009, EBASG members organized several successful sessions at SRA’s Annual Meeting, “Risk Analysis: The Evolution of a Science.” Highlights include:
- Workshops on expert elicitation and other topics of interest.
- Several sessions on assessing regulations, estimating costs, and valuing benefits.
- The EBASG business meeting
- On September 17, 2009, SRA’s New England chapter sponsored a seminar on “Risks and Rationality: Challenges to Sound Decisionmaking,” with three distinguished speakers. James K. Hammitt, Director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, discussed “Positive and Normative Justifications for Benefit-Cost Analysis;” Richard Zeckhauser, from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, described “The Five Neglects: Risks Gone Amiss;” and David Laibson, from Harvard's Department of Economics, presented “How are Preferences Revealed?” Copies of the presentations are available on the seminar page of the SRA-NE website.
- SRA’s Economics and Benefits Analysis Specialty Group and Risk Policy and Law Specialty Group co-sponsored the highly successful “New Ideas for Risk Regulation” conference with Resources for the Future (RFF) in June 2009. Downloadable copies of the presentations and related papers are now available on the SRA event website. The conference video and audio can be viewed on the RFF event website.
- In January 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum directing the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to produce recommendations on a new Executive Order on Federal regulatory review. In February,OMB issued a request for public comment, receiving over 180 comments including several from SRA members. Related documents are available on the OMB website; the comments prepared by a committee of past SRA presidents are also available on the SRA site.
- In December 2008, the National Research Council released the report, Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment, which recommends significant changes in how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses risks. Many of its recommendations focus on increasing the usefulness of these assessments for risk management decisions, strengthening the link between risk assessment and economic analyses.
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