Today the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy (with which I’m affiliated) released a major new paper by Alexander Tabarrok and Amanda Agan of George Mason University’s Department of Economics. It’s titled “Medical Malpractice Awards, Insurance, and Negligence: Which Are Related?” As summarized by my colleague Jim Copland this morning at Point of Law, Tabarrok and Agan reach the following conclusions:
1. They show that medical malpractice premiums are closely related to medical malpractice tort awards. …
2. They show that medical malpractice premiums are not explained by insurance industry price gouging. …
3. They show that medical malpractice tort awards are related to some factors not rationally related to injuries. …
4. They show that malpractice tort awards and thus insurance premiums can vary dramatically for reasons having little or nothing to do with negligence.
2 Comments
Ok, so what are the practical implications of these conclusions?
Wow, this paper gave me a headache in the first five pages. First of all, it’s a bit misleading to say that Amanda Agan is with “George Mason University’s Department of Economics” as she’s an undergraduate majoring in Global Affairs.
Second, the methodology in this is appalling. Is this what passes for objective research at GMU? Or was this all put together by the undergrad? That would certainly make more sense.
I’d like to see this thing go through peer review. Hahahahahahaha!!!