Damages

About: Damages is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9365 publications have been published within this topic receiving 89750 citations. The topic is also known as: compensation award.

The Effects of Tort Reform on Medical Malpractice Insurers' Ultimate Losses

Abstract: 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.

Social inequalities and collateral damages of the COVID-19 pandemic: when basic needs challenge mental health care.

Abstract: Never before has there been such a high level of mobilization around mental health during an epidemic (Pappa et al. 2020). International agencies, with the UN General Secretary at the forefront, the Director of the World Health Organization, as well as researchers, policy makers and civil society leaders have all drawn attention to the need for mental health care for people affected by COVID-19. In the so-called developed countries, many training courses and guidelines have been developed to help mental health professionals to offer telepsychotherapy in order to comply with the physical distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many lowand middle-income countries (LMICs), a mental health commission has been implemented within the response committees to fight the pandemic. These measures have been part of unprecedented efforts to raise awareness on mental health issues. However, despite these efforts, many concerns rapidly arose about mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these measures solely target mental health symptoms (emotional and behavioral), rather than the overall well-being of individuals, families and communities. Typically formulated in high-income countries (HIC), these programs often assume that basic needs are met, and operate under the assumption that survival is not threatened. However, programs that address social inequalities and the non-fulfillment of basic needs are urgently needed, both in HIC and in LMICs. Indeed, beyond the fear of the virus or the isolation of confinement, an increasing number of people go to bed hungry and worried about what their family will eat the next day. Others are preoccupied by their unpaid rent and the risk of being thrown out of their apartments. In the USA, while more than 30 million people applied for unemployment benefits in April, two large surveys have shown that around 20% of children do not have access to enough food (Bauer 2020). In India, more than 120 million lost their jobs or economic activities, among them, some of the most vulnerable. Queues spanning more than five miles in the USA, where recently unemployed individuals are seeking food assistance, or images of the millions in India trying to reach their hometown by bus and on foot revealed the extent of social inequalities in the face of COVID-19. In some countries, confinement measures were deemed impossible to follow, because the risk of being infected was nothing compared to starving to death. The WHO’s definition of mental health and well-being of individuals includes the fulfillment of basic human needs and rights and recommends interventions that are based on an ecosystemic approach targeting a wide range of social and psychological determinants, including social inequalities, poverty and precariousness. In the current social crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, those most in need of mental health care are those whose livelihoods have been made even more precarious because of social disparities. Yet, few of them will seek help because their basic needs are not met and our mental healthcare systems not only fail to address these inequalities but tend to individualize psychological distress (Murali and Oyebode 2004). Proposing online support and tool kits to address anxiety and depression symptoms may be very helpful when culturally appropriate. However, if survival is at stake and if this is not acknowledged as the most & Jude Mary Cénat jcenat@uottawa.ca

Finding ''Lost'' Profits: An Equilibrium Analysis of Patent Infringement Damages

Abstract: We examine the impact of patent infringement damages in an equilibrium oligopoly model of process innovation where the choice to infringe is endogenous and affects market choices. Under the lost profits measure of damages normally employed by U.S. courts, we find that infringement always occurs in equilibrium with the infringing firm making market choices that manipulate the resulting market profit of the patent holder. In equilibrium, infringement takes one of two forms: a “passive” form in which lost profits of the patent holder are zero and an “aggressive” form where they are strictly positive. Even though the patentee's profits are protected with the lost profits damage measure, innovation incentives are reduced relative to a regime where infringement is deterred.

Economics of Global Warming, The

Abstract: This award-winning study examines the costs and benefits of an aggressive program of global action to limit greenhouse warming. An initial chapter summarizes the scientific issues from the standpoint of an economist. The analysis places heavy emphasis on effects over a long run of 200 to 300 years, with much greater warming damages than those associated with the conventional benchmark. * Estimates are presented for economic damages, ranging from agricultural losses and sea level rise to loss of forests, water scarcity, electricity requirements for air conditioning, and several other major effects. The study concludes with a cost- benefit estimate for international action and a discussion of policy measures to mobilize the global response. * Selected by Choice for its 1993 "Outstanding Academic Books" list and winner of the Harold and Margaret Sprout prize for the best book on international environmental affairs, awarded by the International Studies Association.