9308660 Keeney Regulations intended to reduce health and safety risks and thereby reduce fatalities cost billions of dollars. A crucial question is whether the costs of some of these regulations induce more fatalities than the regulations themselves avoid. Several aspects of this critical issue are addressed by the methodology developed in this research. Existing evidence indicates that lower incomes are associated with higher mortality risks. Previous work quantified the relationship between lower incomes and higher mortality risks. A model was developed for estimating the number of fatalities induced by economic expenditures. This model indicated that, depending on the distribution of costs of regulations throughout society, one fatality may be induced for each $3 to $7.5 million cost of regulation. This research will extend the existing model. Analyses will be performed to examine the implications of using average census tract income data in analyses using the model and to indicate whether the relationship between lower incomes and increased fatalities has been changing over the last forty years. Because of the important role that such results might play in policy decisions affecting the allocation of billions of dollars to address public risks, the proposed research will also address questions of how to appropriately interpret and use the results of the research. ***
