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Risk
Definitions of riskHistorical backgroundRisk vs. uncertaintyInsurance and health riskInsightIn businessRisk sensitive industriesIn public worksRegretFramingFear as intuitive risk assessmentRisk assessment and management
Definitions of riskHistorical backgroundRisk vs. uncertaintyInsurance and health riskInsightIn businessRisk sensitive industriesIn public worksRegretFramingFear as intuitive risk assessmentRisk assessment and management
Historical background
Scenario analysis matured during Cold War confrontations between major powers, notably the U.S. and the USSR. It became widespread in insurance circles in the 1970s when major oil tanker disasters forced a more comprehensive foresight. The scientific approach to risk entered finance in the 1980s when financial derivatives proliferated. It reached general professions in the 1990s when the power of personal computing allowed for widespread data collection and numbers crunching.Governments are apparently only now learning to use sophisticated risk methods, most obviously to set standards for environmental regulation, e.g. "pathway analysis" as practiced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.