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123 Harv. L. Rev. 1437 (2009-2010)
The Uneasy Case for Product Liability

handle is hein.journals/hlr123 and id is 1449 raw text is: THE UNEASY CASE FOR PRODUCT LIABILITY A. Mitchell Polinsky and Steven Shavell TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1438 II. THE SAFETY BENEFIT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY .................................................... 1443 A. Incentives To Reduce Product Risk Generated by Market Forces..........................1443 B. Regulation of Product Risk.........................................................................................1450 C. Risk Reduction Accomplished by Product Liability ................................................1453 III. THE PRICE-SIGNALING BENEFIT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY .................................1459 A. Price-Signaling and Consumer Information .............................................................1459 B. Price-Signaling and First-Party Insurance...............................................................1461 IV. THE COMPENSATION BENEFIT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY.....................................1462 A. Compensation Accomplished by Insurance ...............................................................1462 B. Compensation Accomplished by Product Liability...................................................1463 C. The Social Desirability of the Compensation Accomplished by Product Liability....................................................................................................1465 V. THE COSTS OF PRODUCT LIABILITY.........................................................................1469 A . L egal E xpenses.............................................................................................................1469 B . P rice D istortions .........................................................................................................1470 VI. IS PRODUCT LIABILITY SOCIALLY WORTHWHILE GIVEN ITS B EN EFITS AN D C OSTS?.........................................................................................1472 A. Product Liability for Widely Sold Products .............................................................1472 B. Product Liability for Products That Are Not Widely Sold......................................1476 VII. THE PREVAILING SOCIAL ENDORSEMENT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY .................1476 A. Judicial Opinions.........................................................................................................1476 B . A cadem ic W riting........................................................................................................1483 C . Public C om m entary .....................................................................................................1487 VIII.THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PRODUCT LIABILITY AND LIABILITY TO STRA N G ERS ..........................................................................................1490 IX. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................1491 1437

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