Debated Damages

In his inaugural lecture, Louis Visscher discusses three forms of ‘debated damages’ from an economic perspective. First, pain and suffering damages for personal injuries are regarded as too low in the Netherlands, but a framework to assess the ‘correct magnitude’ is lacking. Visscher argues that the concept of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) can offer such a framework. Applying QALYs, the author concludes that Dutch damages indeed are too low. Second, a recent draft bill proposes affection damages for relatives of a victim who is seriously injured or killed. Visscher welcomes this, but argues on the basis of economic insights that the envisaged amounts are too low. Third, mass litigation is not allowed to have the object of seeking monetary compensation. A recent draft bill proposes to strike this prohibition. Visscher welcomes this, because mass damages litigation has several potential benefits. Whether the draft bill sketches an economically optimal procedure, however, is questionable.