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The Market Response to Product Safety Litigation

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  • Viscusi, W Kip
  • Hersch, Joni

Abstract

This paper examines the stock market impact of 29 product liability lawsuits reported in the Wall Street Journal from 1970-85, an additional series of Agent Orange events, and a set of regulatory events involving product risks. If these events and the costs associated with them were fully anticipated, then there would be no effect on the stock market price. Adverse stock market effects increase if the event involves a product liability action, bodily injury, or a court decision. Lengthy newspaper coverage and initial reports also have a strong effect. If there are multiple defendants, the market cost per firm is reduced. One widely publicized "good news" event--the final Agent Orange decision--led to a dramatic increase in stock prices. Copyright 1990 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Suggested Citation

  • Viscusi, W Kip & Hersch, Joni, 1990. "The Market Response to Product Safety Litigation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 215-230, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:2:y:1990:i:3:p:215-30
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. W. Kip Viscusi, 1991. "Product and Occupational Liability," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 71-91, Summer.
    2. Palmer Michael & Sanders Thomas B., 2010. "Surprise! Most Blockbuster Jury Awards Are Ignored By The Stock Market," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 145-166, July.
    3. Seth Freedman & Melissa Kearney & Mara Lederman, 2012. "Product Recalls, Imperfect Information, and Spillover Effects: Lessons from the Consumer Response to the 2007 Toy Recalls," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(2), pages 499-516, May.
    4. Manoj Anand & Jagandeep Singh, 2018. "Impact of Automobile Regulations on Shareholders’ Wealth: Indian Empirical Evidence," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 17(1), pages 28-40, June.
    5. Blake Rayfield & Omer Unsal, 2021. "Institutional monitoring and litigation risk: Evidence from employee disputes," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 81-119, April.
    6. Bartsch, Elga, 1997. "Economic consequences of the German environmental liability act: Capital market response for the chemical industry," Kiel Working Papers 822, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Lanoie, Paul & Laplante, Benoit & Roy, Maite, 1998. "Can capital markets create incentives for pollution control?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 31-41, July.
    8. Daniel Martin Katz & Michael J Bommarito II & Tyler Soellinger & James Ming Chen, 2015. "Law on the Market? Abnormal Stock Returns and Supreme Court Decision-Making," Papers 1508.05751, arXiv.org, revised May 2017.
    9. Unsal, Omer & Kabir Hassan, M. & Zirek, Duygu, 2017. "Corporate lobbying and labor relations: Evidence from employee-level litigations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 411-441.
    10. Maria De Paola & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2013. "Consumers’ Reactions to Negative Information on Product Quality: Evidence from Scanner Data," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 42(3), pages 235-280, May.
    11. Davis, Yehuda & Govindaraj, Suresh & Suslava, Kate, 2024. "Does the stock market anticipate events and supreme court decisions in corporate cases?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Paul Lanoie & Benoit Laplante & Maité Roy, 1997. "Can Capital Markets Create Incentives for Pollution Control?," CIRANO Working Papers 97s-05, CIRANO.
    13. Blake Rayfield & Omer Unsal, 2019. "Institutional Monitoring and Litigation Risk: Evidence from Employee Disputes," NFI Working Papers 2019-WP-02, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    14. DeLong, Gayle, 2018. "Can ‘delitigation’ transform an industry?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 245-254.
    15. Omer Unsal & M. Kabir Hassan, 2020. "Employee lawsuits and capital structure," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 663-704, June.
    16. Unsal, Omer & Brodmann, Jennifer, 2020. "The impact of employee relations on the reputation of the board of directors and CEO," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 372-388.
    17. Unsal, Omer, 2019. "Employee relations and firm risk: Evidence from court rooms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-16.
    18. David Dranove & Subramaniam Ramanarayanan & Yasutora Watanabe, 2012. "Delivering Bad News: Market Responses to Negligence," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 1-25.

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