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Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Selected Works

2014

Cognitive biases

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Regulating In Foresight Versus Judging Liability In Hindsight: The Case Of Tobacco, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski Dec 2014

Regulating In Foresight Versus Judging Liability In Hindsight: The Case Of Tobacco, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Potentially dangerous products, such as cigarettes, can be regulated through ex post liability or ex ante regulation. Both systems should reach the same result. In practice, however, cognitive biases that influence the liability system can produce incentives to take an excess of precautions. In particular, because people tend to see past events as more predictable than they really were, judges and juries will tend to find defendants who took reasonable care negligent or even reckless. As a consequence of these biases, a liability system can be more expensive than a regulatory system, both to potential defendants and to society. Cognitive …


Heuristics And Biases In The Court: Ignorance Or Adaptation?, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski Dec 2014

Heuristics And Biases In The Court: Ignorance Or Adaptation?, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

No abstract provided.