Many U.S. states are now in their fifth year of a medical malpractice "crisis", a period of volatility in the malpractice insurance market characterized by above average increases in premiums, contractions in the supply of insurance and deterioration in the financial health of carriers....

Introduction -- Hard times from colonial to postrevolutionary America -- Hard times and the financial panics of 1819 and 1837 -- The panics of 1873 and 1893, and hard times in between -- Depressions and policy disputes in America, circa 1720-1928 -- The onset of the Great Depression -- The early...