ABSTRACT
Until recently, economists have had little truck with the precautionary principle, or, at least, not with the precautionary principle as it has been interpreted by some environmentalists. The precautionary principle (PP) implies:
an emphasis on prevention rather than cure, and
an emphasis on taking strong preventive action in a context of uncertainty. (For a detailed discussion of alternative definitions of the PP see Ramchandani and Pearce 1991).
