Negligence, causation, and incentives for care

Keith N. Hylton and Haizhen Lin ()

International Review of Law and Economics, 2013, vol. 35, issue C, 80-89

Abstract: We present a new model of negligence and causation and examine the influence of the negligence test, in the presence of intervening causation, on the level of care. In this model, the injurer's decision to take care reduces the likelihood of an accident only in the event that some nondeterministic intervention occurs. The effects of the negligence test depend on the information available to the court, and the manner in which the test is implemented. The key effect of the negligence test, in the presence of intervening causation, is to induce actors to take into account the distribution of the intervention probability as well as its expected value. In the most plausible scenario – where courts have limited information – the test generally leads to socially excessive care.

Keywords: Causation; Negligence; Optimal care; Proximate cause; Intervening cause; Precaution incentives; Durable precaution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: Negligence, Causation and Incentive for Care (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:35:y:2013:i:c:p:80-89

DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2013.04.004

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