The Effects of Tort Reform on Medical Malpractice Insurers' Ultimate Losses / Patricia Born, W. Kip Viscusi, Tom Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Born, Patricia.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Viscusi, W. Kip.

Baker, Tom.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12086.

NBER working paper series no. w12086

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

Whereas the literature evaluating the effect of tort reforms has focused on reported incurred losses, this paper examines the long run effects using a comprehensive sample by state of individual firms writing medical malpractice insurance from 1984-2003. The long run effects of reforms are greater than insurers' expected effects, as five year developed losses and ten year developed losses are below the initially reported incurred losses for those years following reform measures. The quantile regressions show the greatest effects of joint and several liability limits, noneconomic damages caps, and punitive damages reforms for the firms that are at the high end of the loss distribution. These quantile regression results show stronger, more concentrated effects of the reforms than do the OLS and fixed effects estimates for the entire sample.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2006.