deployed, help prevent the risk of the 1.5 million childhood deaths from diarrhea that now occur each year, in addition to reducing the risk of other diseases associated with untreated and exposed human waste<sup>36</sup>

- other products that allow consumers to mitigate the risks they face, such as shifting from entire families precariously clinging to motor bikes and exposing themselves to severe accidents to “frugally engineered” low-cost small cars with seatbelts,<sup>37</sup> and shifting to healthier fruit and vegetable diets from high-sodium, high-fat, high-sugar diets exposing consumers to obesity, diabetes and chronic heart disease.<sup>38</sup>

Absent appropriate policies, market incentives for reallocation and innovation also can result in negative safety and environmental impacts of the production and consumption of goods and services not being sufficiently addressed. Illustrative examples of adverse safety and environmental impacts that may take place absent some appropriate policy intervention include:

- Non-earthquake-proof houses and schools absent appropriate construction standards and their effective enforcement, as highlighted by China’s earthquake in Sichuan province in May 2008 that killed approximately 70,000 people (including thousands of children crushed to death by collapsing school buildings) and by Turkey’s north-western earthquake in August 1999 that killed approximately 25,000 people (with older buildings remaining standing but newer buildings built on shallow foundations with cement mixed with too much sand literally pulverized by the impact of the tremor).<sup>39</sup>

- The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 due to inadequate preventive measures triggered one of the largest oil spills in history, while there have been approximately 2,400 fresh oil spills involving foreign energy companies in the 2006-2010 period alone in the Niger Delta that contains Nigeria’s vast oil and gas reserves. The impact of the Gulf of Mexico spill on oyster fishermen alone has been significant, with oysters possibly taking as long as ten years to recover, fishing boat captains no longer having customers, and associated enterprises laying off almost all their staff. Pollution from oil spills has also devastated the fishing industry in the Niger Delta, though the perception is that “one bad spill in the West is getting more attention than half a century of irresponsible oil production in the Delta” – linked to the problem that Nigeria has plenty of environmental laws but few are enforced.<sup>40</sup>

- Overuse of antibiotics is leading to loss of potency and furthering the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with the number of infections that are resistant to treatment by antibiotics on the rise, a

> 36 See “Technology and development: Each year 1.5 m children die from diarrhea. Better toilets could reduce the death toll”, _The Economist_ , September 1, 2012; and Ramani et al. (2011).

> 37 See “A brilliant, cheap little car has been a marketing disaster”, _The Economist_ , August 20, 2011.

> 38 Years of healthy life lost from being overweight as a percentage of years lost to all chronic disease, at over 30%, was already significantly higher in Oceania and Middle East & North Africa in 2010 than in North America and Western Europe. The Vitality Group, part of a health insurance company in South Africa, finds ways to pay people to eat more fruit and vegetables and exercise, getting its money back because it pays fewer medical bills. See “The big picture: Obesity special report”, _The Economist_ , December 15, 2012.

> 39 See “The Sichuan earthquake: Bereaved parents treated like criminals”, _The Economist_ , May 14, 2009, and “Lessons from Turkey: After the horror, there could be changes for the better”, _The Economist_ , August 26, 1999.

> 40 See “Deepwater Horizon: Mopping up the legal spill”, _The Economist_ , March 3, 2012, “Nigeria’s oil: A desperate need for reform”, _The Economist_ , October 20, 2012, and “Oil in the Niger Delta”, _The Economist_ , June 25, 2010.

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