Summary: Zero-risk bias occurs when individuals value complete elimination of a risk, however small, to a reduction in a greater risk. That is, individuals may prefer small benefits that are certain to large ones that are uncertain, regardless of the size of the “certain” benefit.

An example is the Delaney clause of the Food and Drug Act of 1958, which stipulated a total ban on synthetic carcinogenic food additives.

Zero-risk bias occurs because individuals worry about risk, and eliminating it entirely means that there is no chance of harm being caused. What is economically efficient and possibly more relevant, however, is not bringing risk from 1% to 0%, but from 50% to 5% (for example).

It is related to the concept of cognitive closure (psychology), and it can also be explained in terms of a tendency to think in terms of proportions rather than differences. When a risk is reduced to zero, 100% of the risk is removed.

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