Liability and safety regulation are examined as means of controlling risks in a theoretical model of the occurrence of … accidents. According to the model, regulation does not result in appropriate reduction of risk -- due to the regulator's lack of … knowledge about risk -- nor does liability result in that outcome -- because the incentives it creates are diluted by the chance …

Liability in tort and the regulation of safety are considered as means of controlling accident risks using the … instrumentalist, economic method of analysis.Four general determinants of the relative social desirability of liability and regulation … observed to be made between liability and regulation are, when broadly viewed, socially rational: Notably, activities that …

Regulation and the negligence rule are both designed to obtain compliance with desired standards of behavior, but they … differ in a primary respect: compliance with regulation is ordinarily assessed independently of the occurrence of harm … use of the negligence rule is triggered by harm, the rule enjoys an intrinsic enforcement cost advantage over regulation …

In an earlier work, we analyzed how the legal rules governing contractual liability affect the transfer of information … between the parties to the contract. In particular, we showed how limitations on contractual liability might lead high … liability are and are not socially desirable. In an article forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review, Barry Adler develops a …

Congress may soon restrict joint and several liability for cleanup of contaminated sites under Superfund. We explore … costs. Recent theoretical research by Kornhauser and Revesz finds that joint and several liability may either encourage or … Superfund litigation. We find that joint and several liability does not discourage settlements and may even encourage them. Our …

injunctions. We investigate how damages under a liability rule and the opportunity for injunctions under a property rule can … affect the incentives to develop research tools. We show that the prevailing legal doctrine of damages under liability rule … rule with injunctions or by a liability rule under the doctrine of unjust enrichment …

This article surveys the theory of the public enforcement of law -- the use of public agents (inspectors, tax auditors …, police, prosecutors) to detect and to sanction violators of legal rules. We first present the basic elements of the theory …, focusing on the probability of imposition of sanctions, the magnitude and form of sanctions, and the rule of liability. We then …

A central result in the economic theory of liability is that, if an injurer's liability equals the victim's loss, then … either the rule of strict liability or the rule of negligence can induce the injurer to behave properly. However, for this … and, g fortiori, before any harm has occurred. This paper reevaluates the rules of strict liability and negligence when …

This note reexamines the theory of optimal public enforcement when litigation costs are incurred if the defendant is …

One of the principal results in the economic theory of liability is that, assuming litigation is costless, the rule of … strict liability with compensatory damages leads the injurer to choose the socially appropriate level of care. This paper … reexamines this result when litigation is costly. It is shown that strict liability with compensatory damages generally leads to …