{"title":"First Do No Harm?: Tort Reform and Birth Outcomes","authors":"J. Currie, W. Macleod","doi":"10.1162/QJEC.2008.123.2.795","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We examine the impact of tort reforms using U.S. birth records for 1989-2001. We make four contributions: First, we develop a model that analyzes the incentives created by specific tort reforms. Second, we assemble new data on tort reform. Third, we examine a range of outcomes. Finally, we allow for differential effects by demographic/risk group. We find that reforms of the \"deep pockets rule\" reduce complications of labor and C-sections, while caps on noneconomic damages increase them. Our results demonstrate there are important interactions between incentives created by tort law and other incentives facing physicians.","PeriodicalId":216771,"journal":{"name":"HEN: Malpractice (Sub-Topic)","volume":"464 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2006-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"276","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"HEN: Malpractice (Sub-Topic)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1162/QJEC.2008.123.2.795","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 276
Abstract
We examine the impact of tort reforms using U.S. birth records for 1989-2001. We make four contributions: First, we develop a model that analyzes the incentives created by specific tort reforms. Second, we assemble new data on tort reform. Third, we examine a range of outcomes. Finally, we allow for differential effects by demographic/risk group. We find that reforms of the "deep pockets rule" reduce complications of labor and C-sections, while caps on noneconomic damages increase them. Our results demonstrate there are important interactions between incentives created by tort law and other incentives facing physicians.