The Precautionary Principle and the law of unintended consequences

The purpose of this paper is to explore within a political economy framework the application of the Precautionary Principle to food and agricultural policy. The paper reviews the Precautionary Principle in general, but also raises issues associated with unintended consequences arising from it. In addition, the paper provides a general model of political economy that includes both precaution and consequences, discusses issues related to precaution and irreversibility, and illustrates how unintended consequences can affect welfare.