Waiting in Line for the Illusion of
Security by SENDHIL MULLAINATHAN and RICHARD H. THALER
Economists SENDHIL MULLAINATHAN and RICHARD H. THALER
note:
“You might object that
such measurements are pointless because this time spent is a small price to pay
for safety. That’s true, but only up to a point. It is an illusion to think
that, by waiting in line, we are buying complete safety. In every domain, we
make a trade-off between risks and costs. We do not post 10-mile-per-hour speed
limits on all highways, even though that would be safer. We try to find a
balance between travel time and fatalities.”Related:
Some aspects of modern life are not so great
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/us/tsa-airport-security-long-lines.html