A Critique of the Place of Fault and Pure Responsibility in Economic Analysis

Economic analysis makes the occurrence of fault conditional on the breach of the duty of care, and in strict liability the person is liable for all damages of his activity. However, a close examination of the structure of these rules shows that, despite this similarity, the above rules are so far removed from our common understanding that economic analysis cannot be considered a kind of interpretation of them. In economic analysis, a person cannot be held guilty in any way for the occurrence of an accident because not only is the establishment of a causal relationship not considered necessary, but the cause of civil liability is considered to be simply the lack of sufficient effort to reduce costs. In the case of strict liability, this rule has nothing to do with the dangerous situation, but the mere negative profit of the activity is the reason for its justification.