The Demographics of Tort Reform

31 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2007 Last revised: 19 Aug 2011

See all articles by Joanna Shepherd

Joanna Shepherd

Emory University School of Law

Paul H. Rubin

Emory University - Department of Economics

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

Tort reform may not affect all segments of society equally. Studies have shown that many tort reforms disproportionately reduce compensation to women, children, the elderly, disadvantaged minorities, and less affluent people. This study goes beyond tort reform’s disproportionate effect on compensation, to explore whether tort reform also has a disproportionate effect on accidental death rates. We explain that, theoretically, tort reform’s care-level effects and activity-level effects may disproportionately impact the accident rates of different groups. Using the most accurate, comprehensive data on medical malpractice tort reforms and state-level data from 1980-2000, we examine empirically whether tort reforms indeed have such a disproportionate effect. The results from our empirical analysis are consistent with our theoretical predictions. We find that the impact of tort reform varies substantially among demographic groups. When we consider the net effect of all the reforms in our study together, our results suggest that women, children, and the elderly do not enjoy tort reform’s benefits as much as men and middle-aged people. In fact, they might even be harmed by reform.

Keywords: tort reform, damages, disparate impact

JEL Classification: J1, K00, K13, C33

Suggested Citation

Shepherd, Joanna and Rubin, Paul H., The Demographics of Tort Reform (2008). The Review of Law and Economics, Vol. 4, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=967712

Joanna Shepherd (Contact Author)

Emory University School of Law ( email )

1301 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322
United States
404-727-8957 (Phone)

Paul H. Rubin

Emory University - Department of Economics ( email )

1350 Main Steet #1703
Sarasota, FL 34236
United States
14049310493 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.economics.emory.edu/Rubi.htm

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