A Comparison of Policies to Reduce Pesticide Poisoning Combining Economic and Toxicological Data

Graff Zivin, J, and D Sunding, “A Comparison of Policies to Reduce Pesticide Poisoning Combining Economic and Toxicological Data,” in D Hall and J Moffit (Eds.), Advances in the Economics of Environmental Resources: Economics of Pesticides, Sustainable Food Production and Organic Food Markets, Volume 4, Elsevier Science Ltd., New York, NY 2002.

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The paper combines health risk generation and economic models to compare the efficiency of the two main types of policies to reduce worker injury from toxic substance: occupational safety regulations designed to limit exposure to toxic substances and taxes and bans that are intended to reduce contamination, or total use of the product. The model is developed with reference to pesticide poisoning of farm workers. General conditions for the relative efficiency of policies are derived. Empirical results indicate that protective clothing requirements achieve given reductions in poisonings with about half the cost of a pesticide tax. Implications of the model for regulating other types of worker injury from hazardous inputs are presented.