Some time ago, we were discussing Peter Dorman's friend, Kip Viscusi.
Here is anothe gem.
"The Social Costs of Punitive Damages Against Corporations in
Environmental and Safety Tort"
BY: W. KIP VISCUSI
Harvard Law School
Paper ID: Harvard Law School, John M. Olin Center for Law,
Economics, and Business Working Paper No. 237
Date: July 1998
Contact: W. KIP VISCUSI
Email: Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Postal: Harvard Law School
302 Hauser Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Phone: (617)496-0019
Fax: (617)495-3010
Paper Requests:
Contact Nancy Knapp, John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and
Business at Harvard Law School, Hauser 506, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone:(617)496-1670. Fax:(617)
496-2256.
ABSTRACT:
Legal scholars and judges have long expressed concerns over the
unpredictability and arbitrariness of punitive damages awards.
Proposed remedies, such as restricting punitive damages to
narrowly defined circumstances, have not yet met with success.
This paper addresses the threshold issue of whether, on balance,
punitive damages have benefits in excess of their costs. There
is no evidence of a significant deterrent effect based on an
original empirical analysis of a wide range of risk measures for
the states with and without punitive damages. These measures
included accident rates, chemical spills, medical malpractice
injuries, insurance performance, and other outcomes that should
be affected by punitive damages, but which are not. Punitive
damages can and do cause substantial economic harm through their
random infliction of economic penalties.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
