Research and Applications
PERC is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding Information Solutions for Development Challenges worldwide. Going beyond the standard think tank model of solely carrying out research and producing reports, our staff develops real-world applications and works with policy makers at all levels to bring about the change we seek.
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Serving the Missing Middle
PERC's mission is to serve the Missing Middle, the almost 4 billion people above the global poverty line who do not have access to affordable mainstream credit, by utilizing a new type of economic development: information-led development.
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Overcoming the Catch-22
Up to 70 million Americans are excluded from the financial mainstream because of the Credit Catch-22: you need to have a history of debt to get credit. PERC's Alternative Data Initiative has already helped many Americans overcome this Catch-22 and access affordable mainstream credit.
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Smart Disaster Recovery
PERC has developed metrics for the Louisiana Recovery Agency and the World Bank to track small business recovery from natural disasters.
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March 8, 2004
NEW YORK – A new report issued by the Information Policy Institute finds that the U.S. tort liability system negatively impacts innovation.
Dr. Turner, President and Senior Scholar of the Information Policy Institute, explained the consequences of these high costs, “Innovation, which depends on R&D expenditures, is a key engine of economic growth. The high levels of tort liability faced by firms, particularly in high-tech sectors, serve to depress R&D spending. We’re actually making it harder for firms to produce better products.”
“The U.S. tort liability system is the most expensive in the developed world,” said Robin Varghese, Institute Senior Fellow. “It already represents well over two percent of GDP, and left unchecked, that figure is only poised to grow.”
Examples cited by the study include impacts on the computer, semiconductor, and general aviation industries. Turner explained, “Liability claims decimated the American general aviation industry. Left unchanged, there is no reason why this can’t happen to other high-tech industries. Toshiba was nearly bankrupted by a dubious class-action lawsuit, and only escaped by agreeing to a billion dollar settlement that gave individuals, at most, a few hundred dollars, while their lawyers received a cool $147 million for their efforts. ”
Dr. Turner placed the issue in context, “In certain sectors--for example, IT--firms have to make huge expenditures on R&D just to keep their market share. The tort liability system, however, has created a world in which R&D expenditures are a de facto liability. Confronted with massive potential tort burdens, many U.S. high-tech firms are compelled to cut costs in other areas, including labor.”
The full text of the paper, “Class Action Tort Costs and the Consequences for Innovation,” is available for download at: http://www.perc.net/files/downloads/tortandinnovation.pdf. Institute staff will be discussing their findings with key policy makers over the coming weeks.
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APCC is a PERC-managed coalition committed to promoting a regional standard for full-file, comprehensive consumer credit reporting to private credit bureaus within the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies. Please visit PERC's coalition for credit standards in the APEC region, the Asia-Pacific Credit Coalition
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