This issue's symposium on the use of race and gender statistics in the determination of economic damages originated with a series of papers that were presented at the National Association of Forensic Economics (NAFE) session on the Fair Calculations in Civil Damages Act of 2016, held on June 26, 2017, in conjunction with the Western Economic Association Annual Conference. The Fair Calculations Act, S.3489, was introduced in the 114^th Congress on December 1, 2016 after an article appeared in the Washington Post that suggested court awards to injured white and male children were higher than awards

Abstract

The Fair Calculations in Civil Damages Act of 2016 (the “Act”) proposes that tables of worklife expectancy not taking account of gender be used in the calculation of damages amounts for loss of earnings capacity. This study calculates worklife expectancy tables not taking account of gender, by taking weighted averages of the labor force transition probabilities used by Skoog-Ciecka-Krueger (2011) and calculating the resulting worklife expectancies using the method of Skoog (2002). The weights for the weighted averages are from the period January 2005 through December 2009.

This study then examines patterns in worklife expectancies and labor force transition probabilities and provides evidence not in support of the hypothesis that women's lower worklife expectancies are due to events limited to childbearing years. It is seen that at almost all ages and at all levels of education: women's rate of departure from the labor force exceeds that of men, women's rate of entry and return to the labor force is less than that of men, and labor force participation rates are less than those of men.

This study finds that women's lower labor force participation rates than those of men are accounted for by a greater incidence for women of the statuses “taking care of house or family” and “in retirement.”

Combined gender worklife expectancy tables are then applied to the total population, with the result that mean worklife expectancies are higher for women than men at ages 30 and under, and progressively lower for women than men as age increases beyond age 30.

Abstract

If enacted into law, the Fair Calculations Act would require forensic economists to ignore an injured party's gender when forecasting the loss in future earnings. We discuss how this would affect the size of awards for men and women, and some of the issues that would arise if the law is enacted. Of particular interest is the extent to which gender differences in earnings, earnings growth, and worklife expectancy are the result of sex discrimination in labor markets as opposed to sex differences in preferences. We present evidence that gender differences in human capital characteristics explain a large share of gender differences is in labor market outcomes, though there is considerable disagreement about how to interpret these results. We also show that gender differences in earnings are diminishing over time, but it is not likely that the gap will disappear in the near future. Finally, we discuss how forensic economists may have to rely on additional information when forecasting earnings if they are no longer allowed to use gender.

Abstract

The Fair Calculations Act seeks to prohibit courts from using race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or actual or perceived sexual orientation in awarding damages to plaintiffs in civil actions. The legislation died in the 114^th Congress but a similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate on September 19, 2019 and is in the early stage of the legislative process. California's Senate Bill No. 41 (2019) which is similar to the Fair Calculations Act became law on January 1, 2020. This case study examines economic damages of a male and female child suffering the same traumatic injury from an automobile collision shortly after birth assuming that some future version of the Fair Calculation Act becomes law.

Editors' Note

Labor Force Transitions by Gender: Implications for Separate and Combined Worklife Expectancy

Abstract

The Gender Wage Gap and the Fair Calculations Act

Abstract

Damages to a Child and the Proposed Fair Calculations Act: A Case Study

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Educational Attainment Model for Children: Differential Impact of Parents' Education Level for Children Who Lived with Both Parents or Not

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Worklife Expectancies of Railroad Workers Based on the Twenty-Seventh Actuarial Valuation Using Competing Risks/Multiple Decrement Theory and the Markov Railroad Model

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Use of Healthy Life Expectancy to Estimate Future Provision of Household and Personal Use Services

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The Choice of Medical Care Price Index: Implications for Life Care Plan Valuations

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Update of Educational Attainment Model for a Minor Child: Round 18 of NLSY (1997)

Abstract

Editors’ Note

Editors’ Note

A Closer Look at Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Neutral Models

Mothers’ Worklives and Marital Status

Life-Cycle Estimates of Earnings Growth by Education and Gender