Determinants of State Tort Costs : The Predictive Power of the Harris State Liability Systems Ranking Study

We study the determinants of tort costs using a novel establishment-cohort level dataset of commercial tort costs. We find that state rankings of perceptions of the fairness of the tort system produced for the Harris State Liability Systems Ranking Study conducted on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform provide substantial predictive power for tort costs faced by business establishments. Direct measures of tort activity also help explain commercial tort costs. Other factors, such as state demographics have expected effects in explaining tort costs