Fundamentals of Economics. Доловова Н.Н - 18 стр.

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major auto accident rises. In this sense, seat belts save lives. This direct impact of
seat belts on safety is what motivated Congress to require seat belts.
Yet, to understand fully the effects of this law, one must recognize that people
change their behavior in response to the incentives they face. In this case, the relevant
behavior is the speed and care with which drivers operate their automobiles. Driving
slowly and carefully is costly because it uses the driver's time and energy. When
deciding how safely to drive, rational people compare the marginal benefit from safer
driving to the margin a l c ost. They drive more slow ly and c arefully w hen the benef it
of increased safety is high. This explains why people drive more slowly and carefully
when roads are icy than when roads are clear.
Now consider how a seat belt law alters the cost-benefit calculation of a
rational driver. Seat belts make accidents less costly for a driver because they reduce
the probability of injury or death. Thus, a seat belt law reduces the benefits to slow
and careful driving. People respond to seat belts as they would to an improvement in
road conditions—by faster and less careful driving. The end result of a seat belt law,
therefore, is a larger number of accidents.
How does the law affect the number of deaths from driving? Drivers who wear
their seat belts are more likely to survive any given accident, but they are more likely
to find themselves in an accident. The net effect is ambiguous. Moreover, the
reduction in safe driving has a clear adverse impact on pedestrians (and on drivers
who do not wear their seat belts). They are put in jeopardy by the law because they
are more likely to find themselves in an accident but are not protected by a seat belt.
Thus, a seat belt law tends to increase the number of pedestrian deaths.
At first, this discussion of incentives and seat belts might seem like idle
speculation. Yet, in an article published in 1975, economist Sam Peltzman showed
that the auto-safety laws have, in fact, had many of these effects. According to
Peltzman’s evidence, these laws produce both fewer deaths per accident and more
accidents. The net result is little change in the number of driver deaths and an
increase in the number of pedestrian deaths.
Peltzman’s analysis of auto-safety is just one example of general principle that
people respond to incentives. Many of the incentives that economists study are more
straightforward than those of the auto-safety laws. For example, no one is surprised
that a tax on apple causes people to buy fewer apples. Yet, as the seat belt example
shows, policies sometimes have effects that are not obvious in advance. In analyzing
any policy, one must consider not only the direct effects but also the indirect effects
that work through incentives. If the policy changes incentives, it will cause people to
alter their behavior.
QUICK QUI Z list and briefly explain the four principles of individual
decisionmaking
Words to remember
to respond – отвечать, реагировать
incentive – стимул

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