Contents: This issue contains one article written by the staff at Economica. Selecting the Discount Rate (2017) Recently, Economica undertook a detailed re-evaluation of our recommendations concerning the discount rate. We argue that plaintiffs have available two alternative methods of investing their awards for future losses: the annuity approach, in which plaintiffs use their awards… Continue reading

Contents: This issue contains two articles. In the first, Christopher Bruce and Derek Aldridge examine the effect of a criminal record on earnings. In the second, Christopher Bruce and Kelly Rathje discuss the structure and content of expert cost of care reports. The Effect of Incarceration on Future Earnings In the first article, Dr. Bruce… Continue reading

Contents: This issue contains two articles written by Dr. Christopher Bruce. The first reviews the debate over the use of cross versus sole dependency approaches in the determination of loss of dependency on income; while the second article concerns the reliability of income data drawn from the 2011 census. Cross versus Sole Dependency in Fatal… Continue reading

Contents: The Cost of Household Services, Alberta 2014: A Survey In this issue of the Expert Witness, Christopher Bruce and Russette Pack summarise the results of a 2014 survey they conducted concerning the costs of providing household services in Alberta. They report that the costs of meal preparation, maintenance and repairs, snow removal and lawn… Continue reading

Contents: In fatal accident litigation, the plaintiffs are entitled to claim an amount that is sufficient to allow them to maintain the same standard of living as they had enjoyed when the deceased had been alive. In practice, this requires that the court calculate the percentage of the deceased’s after-tax income that would have benefited… Continue reading

Contents: In Assessment of Personal Injury Damages (5th Edition), we discussed the economic outcomes for aboriginal peoples in Canada. We outlined articles related to this subject, and provided data regarding income, educational attainment, participation, and unemployment rates for aboriginal people in Canada, based on the 2006 census. In this issue, we summarize new data derived… Continue reading

Contents: In every personal injury or fatal accident case in which the plaintiff’s loss continues into the future, it is necessary to calculate the rate of interest at which the damages will be invested. This interest rate is commonly called the discount rate. In this issue of the Expert Witness, we provide two articles concerning… Continue reading

Contents: In 1999 and 2005, Economica conducted surveys of the cost of providing various household services, such as cooking, cleaning, yard work, and child care. As the results from those surveys have come to be widely accepted by the courts and by other experts in the personal injury field, we felt that it would be… Continue reading

Contents: Alternatives to the Minor Injury Regulation by Christopher Bruce In our first article, Alternatives to the Minor Injury Regulation, Chris Bruce identifies numerous alternative policies that could reduce automobile insurance premiums, not by reducing benefits, but by reducing the incidence and severity of automobile accidents. Testifying in Singapore by Derek Aldridge In the second… Continue reading

Contents: Premiums, Profits, and Costs of Business in Alberta’s Automobile Insurance Industry, 1996-2006 by Christopher Bruce and Jason Strauss In February 2008, Economica was retained by the Canadian Bar Association to prepare a series of reports on automobile insurance premiums in five provinces: Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. We have… Continue reading