Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Cotton Dust Regulation

Abstract

This study applied economic analysis to an evaluation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's standard. The costs and benefits attributable to the standard were identified, measured, and compared. A period of twenty years was used to estimate the costs of the standard to allow for the cumulative effect of cotton dust controls. For a similar reason, benefits were estimated for a forty-year period, since spillover benefits would continue after the expiration of the standard. Various degrees of standard effectiveness were used in view of existing uncertainty about the impact of the standard on byssinosis. The results of the study indicate that benefits are considerably lower than costs throughout the forty-year period. Even under the most optimistic assumptions, costs exceeded benefits by more than two and a half to one. In part, this result reflects the magnitude of costs incurred in the early years of the standard and the delay in accrual of benefits.