Liability: Perspectives and Policy is an in-depth look inside the medical malpractice insurance crisis of the 1980s. The authors, economists and liability law experts, examine how medical malpractice law accomplishes its twin goals of compensation and deterrence, the rapid expansion of liability that led to "an unprecedented growth in personal injury lawsuits," and the relationship between rising litigation costs and medical malpractice insurance costs and availability. The book concludes that the rise in insurance premiums is due to fundamental changes in the use of the tort system, but notes that without adequate information on the effects of these changes, a path to reform is unclear.