Traditional economic analysis of accident law has largely focused on individual utility maximising actors as potential injurers and victims. On that basis a huge literature has been developed since the early publications of Calabresi in the 1960's explaining under which conditions particular...

From an economic perspective tort law is to serve two important functions: deterrence of wrongdoers and victim compensation. We can easily construct examples of torts leading to small and widespread harm for which it is questionable whether a rational victim will initiate an individual lawsuit....