Race, Poverty, and American Tort Awards: Evidence from Three Data Sets
We investigate the impact of the race and income of the jury pool on trial awards. The average tort award increases as black and Hispanic county population rates increase and especially as black and Hispanic county poverty rates increase. An increase in the black county poverty rate of 1 percentage point tends to raise the average personal injury tort award by 3–10 percent. An increase in the Hispanic county poverty rate of 1 percentage point tends to raise awards by as much as 7 percent, although this effect is less well estimated. Forum shopping for high-poverty minority counties could raise awards by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Average awards decrease with increases in white (nonblack, non-Hispanic) poverty rates in two of our data sets, making these findings even more surprising. Awards increase with black and Hispanic county poverty rates even after controlling for a wide variety of other potential causes.
Year of publication: |
2003
|
---|---|
Authors: | Helland, Eric ; Tabarrok, Alexander |
Published in: |
The Journal of Legal Studies. - University of Chicago Press. - Vol. 32.2003, 1, p. 27-58
|
Publisher: |
University of Chicago Press |
Saved in:
Online Resource
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
Two Cheers for Contingent Fees
Tabarrok, Alexander,
-
Two Cheers for Contingent Fees
Tabarrok, Alexander,
-
The Measure of Vice and Sin: A Review of the Uses, Limitations and Implications of Crime Data
Tabarrok, Alexander,
- More ...