Abstract
Citizens become consumers when working with products as well as when buying them. Many products to which worker-consumers are exposed are dangerous. Our analysis of the American asbestos experience demonstrates that the process thought to balance workplace risks and benefits, the market, fails to deter latent injurers in the way neo-classical economics predicts. Tort signals to the market are weak, late, and frequently distorted or ignored.
Zusammenfassung
Bürger werden zu Verbrauchern im Sinne von Benutzern, wenn sie mit gefährlichen Produkten umgehen, sei es bei der Arbeit oder beim Konsum. Die Gefahren eines solchen Umgangs sind bei Asbest deutlich geworden. Die Analyse der amerikanischen Erfahrungen mit den Produkthaftungsverfahren gegen Asbest-Hersteller und Asbest-Verwender stimmt skeptisch gegenüber grundsätzlichen Annahmen der ökonomischen Analyse des Rechts. Die Behauptung, daß der Markt und entsprechende Haftungsregeln für einen gerechten und effizienten Ausgleich von Gefahren und Vorteilen am Arbeitsplatz sorgt, läßt sich weder theoretisch noch empirisch halten: Das Abschreckungspotential gegenüber potentiellen Gefährdungen ist zu gering. Die von Haftungsrisiken ausgehenden Signale für den Markt sind schwach, spät und häufig verzerrt oder unbeachtet.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, F. K., & Zuckerman, S. (1984). Variation in growth and incidence of medical malpractice claims. Journal of Health, Politics, Policy and Law, 9, 475–488.
Akerlof, G., & Dickens, W. (1982). The economic consequences of cognitive dissonance. American Economic Review, 72, 307–319.
Akerlof, G., & Yellen, J. (1985). Can small deviations from rationality make large differences to economic equilibria? American Economic Review, 75, 708–720.
Allison, G. T. (1971). Essence of decision: Explaining the Cuban missile crisis. Boston: Little, Brown.
Barth, P. S. (1984). A proposal for dealing with the compensation of industrial diseases. Journal of Legal Studies, 13, 569–586.
Berman, D. (1978). Death on the job. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Boden, L. I., and Jones, C. A. (1987). Occupational disease remedies: The asbestos experience. In: E. E. Bailey (Ed.), Public regulation, pp. 320–346. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Braithwaite, J., & Fisse, B. (1983). Asbestos and health: A case of informal social control. Australia New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 16, 67–80.
Brodeur, P. (1985). Outrageous misconduct: The asbestos industry on trial. New York: Pantheon.
Calhoun, C., & Hiller, H. (1988). Coping with insidious injuries: The case of Johns Manville Corporation and asbestos exposure. Social Problem, 35, 162–181.
Carroll, S. J. (1987). Assessing the effects of tort reforms. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Castleman, B. (1986). Asbestos: Medical and legal aspects (2nd ed.). New York: Prentice-Hall.
Cherniack, M. (1986). The Hawk's Nest incident: America's worst industrial disaster. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Claybrook, J. (1982). Reagan on the road: The crash of the U.S. Auto Safety Program. Washington, D.C.: Public Citizen.
Cooter, R., & Ulen, T. (1988). Law and economics. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Danzon, P. (1985). Medical malpractice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Danzon, P. (1986). New evidence on the frequency and severity of medical malpractice claims. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Danzon, P. (1987). The effects of tort reforms on the frequency and severity of medical malpractice claims. Ohio State Law Journal, 48, 413–417.
Drucker, P. (1986). The frontiers of management. New York: Dutton.
Eads, G., & Reuter, P. (1983). Designing safer products. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Epstein, R. (1986). The temporal dimension in tort law. University of Chicago Law Review, 53, 1175–1218.
Erikson, K. (1976). Everything in its path: Destruction of community in the Buffalo Creek Flood. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Felstiner, W., Abel. R., & Sarat, A. (1981). The emergence and transformation of disputes: Naming, blaming, claiming ... Law & Society Review, 15, 631–654.
Felstiner, W., & Dingwall, R. (1988). Asbestos litigation in the U.K. Oxford: Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.
Friedman, L. (1985). Total justice. New York: Russell Sage.
GAO (1986). Medical malpractice: Six state case studies show claims and costs still rise despite reforms. Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office. GAO/HRD-87-21.
Ginger, A. F., & Christiano, D. (Eds.) (1987). The cold war against labor (Vols. 1–2). Berkeley, CA: Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute.
Gould, L., Gardner, D., DeLuca, D., Tiemann, A., Doob, L., & Stolwijk, J. (1988). Perceptions of technological risks and benefits. New York: Russell Sage.
Green, M. (1988). The paradox of statutes of limitations in toxic substances litigation. California Law Review, 76, 965–1014.
Grenier, G. J. (1988). Inhuman relations: Quality circles and anti-unionism in American industry. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Hechinger, F. M. (1988). About education. New York Times, April 27, p. 25.
Heimer, C. (1985). Reactive risk and rational action: Managing moral hazard in insurance contracts. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Hensler, D., Felstiner, W., Selvin, M., & Ebener, P. (1985). Asbestos in the courts. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Hill, S. (1987). Corporate violence. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield.
Hirsch, P. (1987). Pack your own parachute. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Ison, T. G. (1967). The forensic lottery. London: Staples Press.
Kakalik, J., Ebener, P., Felstiner, W., Haggstrom, G. & Shanley, M. (1984). Variations in asbestos litigation compensation and expenses. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Kochan, T. A. (1985). Challenges and choices facing American labor. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Landes, W. M., & Posner, R. A. (1987). The economic structure of tort law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Locke, L. (1985). Adapting workers' compensation to the special problems of occupational disease. Harvard Environmental Law Review, 9, 249–282.
Lord, M. (1987). A plea for corporate conscience. In S. L. Hills (Ed.), Corporate violence, pp. 41–47. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield.
MacAvoy, P. (1982). You, too, will pay for asbestos. New York Times, February 14, sec. 3, p. 3.
Mark, G. (1983). Issues in asbestos litigation. Hastings Law Journal, 34, 871–910.
McCaffrey, D. P. (1982). OSHA and the politics of health regulation. New York: Plenum Press.
McCulloch, J. (1986). Asbestos: Its human cost. St Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press.
McGovern, F. E. (1986). Toward a functional approach for managing complex litigation. University of Chicago Law Review, 53, 440–493.
Nelkin, D., & Brown, M. (1984). Workers at risk: Voices from the workplace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nelson, R. (1988). Ideology, scholarship and socio-legal change. Law & Society Review, 21, 677–693.
Nobel, C. (1986). Liberalism at work: The rise and fall of OSHA. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
O'Connell, J. (1985). A “neo no-fault” contract in lieu of tort. California Law Review, 73, 898–916.
O'Connell, J. (1987a). Tort versus no-fault. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 19, 63–82.
O'Connell, J. (1987b). Balanced proposals for product liability reform. Ohio State Law Journal, 48, 317–328.
Oi, W. (1984). Tort law as a regulatory regime: A comment on Landes and Posner. Journal of Legal Studies, 13, 435–441.
Perrow, C. (1984). Normal accidents. New York: Basic Books.
Peters, T., & Waterman, R. (1982). In search of excellence. New York: Harper & Row.
Porter, L. W., & McKibben, L. (1988). Management education and development: Drift or thrust into the 21st century? New York: McGraw Hill.
Rosen, S. (1986). The theory of equalizing differences. In: O. Ashenfelter and R. Layard (Eds.), Handbook of labor economics, pp. 641–692. Amsterdam: North Holland.
Scherer, F. M. (1980). Industrial market structure and economic performance. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin.
Shapo, M. (1984). Towards a jurisprudence of injury. Chicago: American Bar Association.
Simon, H. (1959). Theories of decision making in economics and behavioral science. American Economic Review, 49, 253–283.
Sloan, F. (1985). State responses to the malpractice insurance crisis of the 1970's. Journal of Health, Politics, Policy and Law, 9, 629–646.
Smith, R. S. (1979). Compensating wage differentials and public policy. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 32, 339–352.
Stewart, R. (1987). Crisis in tort law? University of Chicago Law Review, 54, 184–199.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgement under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124–1131.
Viscusi, W. K. (1983). Risk by choice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Viscusi, W. K. (1986). The determinants of the disposition of product liability claims and compensation for bodily injury. Journal of Legal Studies, 15, 321–346.
Yates, R. (1987). Burn victims — BIC settlements. American Bar Association Journal, June 1, p. 17.
Additional information
William L. F. Felstiner is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University and Director, American Bar Foundation, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Tom Durkin is a Research Associate and Peter Siegelman a Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation.
The authors acknowledge thoughtful comments on earlier drafts by Ian Ayres, Mary Coyne, John Braithwaite, Robert Dingwall, John Donohue, Wendy Espeland, Mark Grady, and James Short.
A more extensive version of this paper is to be published in the U.S. in Law and Policy, Vol. 11.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Felstiner, W.L.F., Durkin, T. & Siegelman, P. Consumers as workers: The problems of complacent theory. J Consum Policy 12, 381–396 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00412143
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00412143