Risk and decision-making for extreme events: What terrorism and climate change have in common

Terrorism and climate change debates are often characterized by worst-case thinking, cost neglect, probability neglect, and avoidance of the notion of acceptable risk. This is not unexpected when dealing with extreme events. However, it can result in a frightened public, costly policy outcomes, and wasteful expenditures. The paper will describe how risk-based and cost-benefit approaches are well suited to infrastructure decision-making in these uncertain environments.