When a multimarket firm's product causes harm to consumers, should the firm bear uniform or variable liability across markets? We analyze a two-market model, in which under the variable rule the firm's liability rises above the standard level in market 1 but falls below it in market 2, while...

The EU's Product Liability Directive (PLD) determines the rules for strict product liability in the EU. It establishes a framework in which manufacturers' liability is determined solely based on the presence of defects in the product, regardless of the manufacturer's fault. The PLD is intended...

The central hypothesis of this article is that liability regulation can foster firms' incentives to study the (potential) dangers of their products. We discuss alternative views and develop a formal model to analyze a firm's incentive structure under the application of hindsight liability. We...

Consumers have legal recourse under product liability law for any damages or losses caused by faulty products. Faulty goods have an adverse effect on millions of individuals worldwide, and the sellers or producers end up shelling out a sizable sum for products-liability insurance as well as...

This paper explores whether platform liability should be strict or negligence based. In the model, two-sided platforms get revenue from two sources: selling products or services to consumers and selling advertising (or information) to others. There are indirect network effects: higher consumer...

The 1985 Product Liability Directive (PLD) is currently being revised, with a view to adapting European Union product liability rules to the digital economy and new technologies. The ongoing discussion focuses on technical issues and apparently takes it for granted that the PLD as it stands...

This study examines the association between product recall and CEO compensation. Using a sample of U.S. automobile industry product recalls from 1999 to 2018, we find that product recalls have significant negative impacts on CEO compensation. Our findings hold after controlling for the common...

We study a platformâs incentives to delist IP-infringing products and the effects of holding the platform liable for the presence of such products on innovation and consumer welfare. For a given number of buyers, platform liability increases innovation by reducing the competitive pressure faced...

This article compares the classic liability rules, negligence and strict liability, under the hypothesis that injurers and victims formulate subjective beliefs about the probabilities of harm. Parties may reasonably disagree in their assessment of the precautionary measures available: a measure...

Little is known about consumer response to food safety recalls in low- and middle- income countries. Using an event-study framework, this paper examines the immediate and long-term changes in noodle purchases after the nationwide removal of Maggi instant noodles from the market in India in 2015....

This article theoretically analyzes the effects of the platform liability for the third-party products on incentives of the third-party vendors to make efforts to produce safe products. For this purpose, I suppose that the platform behaves as a mere marketplace and does not screen vendors or...

This paper compares alternative liability rules for allocating losses from defective products when consumers under- estimate these losses and producers may have some market power. If producers do not have any market power, the rule of strict liability .leads to both the first-best accident...

We analyze how the precision of a firm’s product safety testing affects its pricing strategies and the associated profit implications under strict product liability with a partial liability specification. We consider a signaling game where a firm with private product safety information chooses...

Adverse events, such as product recalls, transcend business-to-business (B2B) secondary markets (i.e., used product markets). Yet, little, if any, is known about the impact of such adverse events on purchase responses of B2B buyers (i.e., channel intermediaries). The current study addresses this...

We study a platformâs incentives to delist IP-infringing products and the effects of holding the platform liable for the presence of such products on innovation and consumer welfare. For a given number of buyers, platform liability increases innovation by reducing the competitive pressure faced...

Medical device firms operate at the frontiers of innovation. When functioning properly, innovative medical devices can prolong and improve lives; when malfunctioning, the same devices may harm patients and lead to product recalls. Product recalls create significant challenges for firms, but...

Product-recall data and information on stock-price reactions to recalls are used to estimate the value of reputation in a model in which product quality is not contractible. A recall is the result of a product defect that signals low effort. The recall triggers a reduction in the firm's product...

Products liability in the digital age entails reckoning with the transformative shift away from in-person purchases from brick-and-mortar stores toward digital purchases from e-commerce platforms. The epochal rise of the online storefront has vastly expanded the prevalence of direct-to-consumer...

In the manuscript I derive a fundamental quantitative model of normal legal behavior in liability law and describe how deviating from this behavior results in liability in an abstract world where unlawful damage should be minimalized. I start with a logical model in a deterministic world and...

Dangerous products may give rise to colossal liability for commercial actors. Indeed, in 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Johnson & Johnson v. Ingham, permitting a more than two billion dollar products liability damages award to stand. In his dissenting opinion in another recent...

Dogs have been regarded as friends by humans for generations. But what about the culpability for the harm caused by dogs. At different instances case laws show that dogs have caused the most significant harms. Tort law developed from an early position of owner-friendly laws to victim centric by...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the applicability of the Product Liability Directive concerning the liability for defective products to the realm of the Internet of Things (IoT). This Directive has proved to be an effective tool both in addressing cases of defective products and in...

When a consumer purchases a product based on the influence of a brand ambassador acting as an endorser, should such brand ambassador be held liable when the product is defective? These questions have been lingering in the legal space because of the power and influence a brand ambassador...

Public authorities in many jurisdictions are concerned about the proliferation of illegal content and products on online platforms. In this paper, we provide an economic appraisal of platform liability that highlights the effects of a stricter liability rule on several key variables such as...

This paper is motivated by major food product recall events in recent years, especially how the timely and effective response using post-recall management can make a difference. We consider the rare but very influential major product recalls as disruptions to the supply chain and incorporate...

The large number of recalled products, the low proportion of recalled products returned for repair or replacement, and the high costs (lawsuits, communication, product repair and/or replacement, government agency fines and lost sales, etc.) associated with product recalls indicate the need for...

An ELI Innovation Paper seeks to set out concrete propositions for European Legal Development in a short paper, which is more tentative in nature and which does not represent the result of comprehensive research; rather, it seeks to spark discussion and to inspire further action. In this spirit,...

Should the manufacturer of a product be held legally responsible when a consumer, while using the product, harms someone else? We show that if consumers have deep pockets then manufacturer liability is not economically efficient. It is more efficient for the consumers themselves to bear...

This paper considers product recall under a perfect regime of strict liability. We show that safety is under supplied given output due to an under internalization of infra-marginal units. If we add a mandatory refund with a possible penalty fee in the event that the product turns out to be...

This paper formally analyzes strict liability and negligence in a market setting. The discussion emphasizes the impact of the rules on the market price and on the number of firms in the industry. For simplicity, the damage caused by each firm is assumed to be determined only by that firm's...

Amazon, and other internet sales platforms, have revolutionized the manner in which goods are purchased and sold. The obligations undertaken by Amazon in those sales are unclear, both as a matter of transparency, and as a matter of legal doctrine. Is Amazon a store? Is it a shipper? Is it a...

Financial innovation provides an accommodating avenue for parties to develop strategic means to prevent or avoid risk by spreading it across the financial system through efficient transferral to other parties. This transferral is done in numerous ways, the most notorious of which is through...

The 21st Century Cures Act confirmed the FDA’s authority to regulate certain categories of software that, increasingly, incorporate artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) techniques. The agency’s September 27, 2019 draft guidance on Clinical Decision Support Software proposed an...

Over the past decade, the rise of online marketplaces such as Amazon.com has profoundly changed the retail landscape. The current pandemic has further accelerated consumers’ shift towards online buying in general and online marketplaces in particular. As a result, traditional distribution...