EXPLAINING THE VARIANCE IN THE NUMBER OF TORT SUITS ACROSS US STATES AND BETWEEN THE UNITED-STATES AND ENGLAND

There is enormous variance across jurisdictions in the number of cases filed, even when the laws in the different jurisdictions are similar. This article is an empirical study of the variance in the number of t ort cases across U.S. states (plus the District of Columbia and Englan d), all of which have basically similar common-law tort principles and procedures. Regression analysis reveals that explanatory variables th at can be given an economic interpretation, such as income, education, and urbanization, can explain much of the variance among these jurisd ictions and that cultural factors are less important. A surprising res ult is that, after correcting for the economic variables, England appe ars to be more rather than, as generally believed, much less litigious than the United States.