Product Liability, Research and Development, and Innovation
研究产品责任成本对制造业企业研发强度和新产品推出的影响，发现中等责任成本促进创新，高责任成本抑制创新，平均而言责任成本使研发强度提高15%。
Product liability ideally should promote efficient levels of product safety but misdirected liability efforts may depre ss beneficial innovations. This paper examines these competing effects of liability costs on product R&D intensity and new product introductio ns by manufacturing firms. At low to moderate levels of expected liabil ity costs, there is a positive effect of liability costs on product innovation. At very high levels of liability costs, the effect is negative. At the sample mean, liability costs increase R&D intensity by 15 percent. The greater linkage of these effects to product R&D i s consistent with the increased prominence of the design defect doctrine. Copyright 1993 by University of Chicago Press.