Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1991

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1991

Symposium on the Economics of Liability

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By Carl Shapiro

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Has the U.S. liability system run amok? Many commentators feel it has, as do many executives who feel that the liability "tax" discourages innovation and ultimately fails to promote safety. On the other hand, economists have ceaselessly pointed out that w...

Economic Theories of Legal Liability

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By Robert D. Cooter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

This essay synthesizes and re-conceptualizes some central results of the economic analysis of liability law and sketches the legal details that drive them. Three different legal mechanisms for creating efficient incentives are examined in turn. The first ...

The Modern Expansion of Tort Liability: Its Sources, Its Effects, and Its Reform

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By George L. Priest

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

This paper reviews the development of tort law during the 20th century with particular attention to the broad expansion of liability since the 1970s. It attempts to explain the origins of the expansion of liability; to present examples of its effects on p...

Liability for Medical Malpractice

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By Patricia M. Danzon

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Physicians and other medical providers are subject to a negligence rule of liability. In a simple model, with perfect information and homogeneous physicians, a negligence rule of liability with an appropriately defined due care standard should induce comp...

Product and Occupational Liability

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By W. Kip Viscusi

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Increased liability for risks posed by jobs and products has transformed the cost structure of job and product markets. Liability costs used to be an incidental expense; now they are a factor of substantial economic consequence. The costs associated with ...

The Limitations of Legal Institutions for Addressing Environmental Risks

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By Peter S. Menell

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

This article assesses the major systems of environmental liability in the United States—the toxic tort system and Superfund. The discussion of each of these areas first lays out the scientific background of the environmental problems and the applica...

The Liability Insurance Market

[Symposium: The Economics of Liability]

By Ralph A. Winter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

This paper offers an overview of the U.S. liability insurance market and the link between its performance and developments in tort law. Over the last few decades, the dominant feature of the insurance market has been the insurance cycle: intermittent peri...

Melioration: A Theory of Distributed Choice

By Richard J. Herrnstein and Drazen Prelec

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

In this paper, we develop a theory of individual choice called melioration, which implies that choices distributed over a period of time may be reliably and predictably suboptimal, in terms of the person's own preferences. Consider some typical examples o...

Economic Literacy or Economic Ideology?

By Julie A. Nelson and Steven M. Sheffrin

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

The Test of Economic Literacy (TEL), is a standardized multiple choice test developed under the auspices of the Joint Council on Economic Education with esteemed economists in an advisory role. The Test of Economic Literacy (TEL) is administered in many h...

A Flawed Ideological Critique

By William B. Walstad

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

In their critique of the Test of Economic Literacy (TEL), Nelson and Sheffrin draw the conclusion that the TEL is an ideological test. In making their case, however, they neglect to cite the TEL Examiner's Manual by John Soper and myself (1987). In the 67...

Nobel Laureate: Trygve Haavelmo

By Karl Ove Moene and Asbjorn Rodseth

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Trygve Haavelmo was in the United States from 1939 to 1947, and in this period he published most of his path-breaking contributions to econometrics for which the Nobel committee awarded him the prize. His list of publications after 1947 contains more than...

Policy Watch: Antitrust Goes to College

By Steven C. Salop and Lawrence J. White

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

It may have come as a shock to many economists, especially those in academia, to learn that the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been investigating alleged price fixing and information exchange of financial aid among 23 prest...

Retrospectives: Animal Spirits

By Roger Koppl

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

John Maynard Keynes argued that when the conditions for rational action are not present, people are driven by "animal spirits." This article briefly considers Keynes' argument, and the history of the term.

Recommendations for Further Reading

By Bernard Saffran

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Correspondence: Human Resources in South Korea

By Semoon Chang

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1991

Symposium on Economic Transition in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

[Symposium: Economic Transition in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe]

By Peter Murrell

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1991

This symposium examines the economic problems facing the reforming countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the interrelationships between these problems, and current knowledge on how to deal with them. The word "reform" is surely a misnomer for ...