The Safety-Incentive Theory of Liability,

摘要

The use of liability law to improve incentives for safety is supported by certain recent theoretical results. This paper summarizes the main ideas and illustrates the key arguments. It discusses basic weaknesses of the theory,namely: (1) the simple model of Calabresi does not generalize; (2) the more complex systems of J.P. Brown, P. Diamond,and J. Green require that courts possess a great deal of information and use it to set appropriate standards of due care; (3) in practice safety incentives also depend upon fear of criminal penalties and the sense of social responsibility. This paper briefly addresses the questions whether and when liability rules can significantly affect incentives. Given all the difficulties,the paper concludes that the theory in its present state can hardly serve as a basis for altering liability rules.