Statement of Purpose

Substantial empirical evidence indicates that state judges and juries, in awarding damages in products liability cases, systematically redistribute wealth from out-of-state corporations to in-state plaintiffs. Plaintiffs� lawyers defend this ostensibly "federalist" regime. Corporate attorneys and leading academics have criticized cross-border exploitation as a cause of excessive liability verdicts, and have advocated national products liability standards as the only viable solution.

AEI�s Federalism Project and the newly formed Liability Project are exploring legal and institutional mechanisms that would curb the states� race towards ever-more expansive liability, without leading to a wholesale�and, probably, equally inefficient�nationalization of tort law. One such device is a choice-of-law regime that would compel states to consider the costs and the benefits of liability rules. See the Liability Project's website for more information.

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