Law and Economics of Artificial Intelligence: Optimal Liability Rules for Accident Losses Caused by Fully Autonomous Vehicles

Jeong-Yoo Kim (Kyung Hee University)

발행년도 2024 / Vol 40 / No 1

We examine the optimal liability rule in accidents involving fully autonomous vehicles. In cases where enforcing due activity is not feasible, it is socially optimal to apply the strict liability rule to the human operator determining the activity level and to apply the negligence rule to the manufacturer and the victim who select care levels under contributory or comparative negligence in the unilateral activity case. Under the joint and several liability rule, both the manufacturer and the victim exercise due care, contingent on regulating the manufacturer’s liability share sufficiently high, and the human operator assuming the remaining risks chooses the socially optimal activity level maximizing the social net benefit. Conversely, if due activity enforcement is possible, an alternative liability rule proves optimal. Under this rule, the human operator engages in efficient activity to comply with the activity standard, the manufacturer exercises efficient care to meet the care standard, and the victim assumes residual liability so as to be induced to take efficient care. Notably, this liability rule achieves the social optimum, even in bilateral activity cases where both the human operator and the victim engage in activity. Our results diverge from previous findings suggesting that achieving the social optimum involves using public sanctions, such as paying a fine to the state. 

Taxes, Payout Policy, and Share Prices: Evidence from DID Analysis Using Korea’s 2015–2017 Dividend Tax Cut

Jeong Hwan Lee (Hanyang University) and Young Lee (Hanyang University)

발행년도 2024 / Vol 40 / No 1

The Korean government temporarily lowered dividend tax rates for investors of firms that significantly increased dividend payments in 2015–2017. This study begins by examining whether qualifying firms on average increased dividends after controlling for other factors of dividends and how additional dividend payouts were financed. Unsurprisingly, we find that qualifying firms for the dividend tax cut increased dividends substantially without incurring a substitution effect between dividends and share repurchases. The main question of this study, which is the effect of the dividend tax cut on share prices, is investigated using the difference-in-differences analysis in the propensity score matched sample. We find that that the dividend tax cut increased the value of firms that took advantage of the tax cut by 22%, which is consistent with agency theory and the prevailing Korean discount in the financial market.