Changing Rules in Tort Law and the Market for Childhood Vaccines

Abstract

MUCH attention has been focused on the changes in the legal environment that have swept this country in the past two or three decades. One of the more important changes has been the movement toward strict products liability. Although this evolution has not been complete, in many cases it has become much easier for injured consumers to obtain compensation from manufacturers. The increased availability of compensation made possible by this evolution has been hailed as a great victory for consumer interests, assailed for its economic inefficiency, and blamed for increasing the costs and risks of engaging in business and thus causing a decline in the competitiveness of American industry.1 While there exists a well-developed theoretical literature on the relative efficiency of alternative liability rules,2 little reliable evidence has yet been generated on the actual consequences of this evolution.3 It is to this issue that this article is addressed. The evidence generated here comes from the market for childhood vaccines, a market which is particularly