Negligence with a Defense of Contributory Negligence

Simple Negligence with due care level = high

Seller minimizes private cost by selecting care level

Private cost = with low care

Private cost = with high care

If the buyer can tell/assess the risk perfectly

Value > Total cost of consumption ( price + expected harm) buy.

Otherwise, not buy.

What happens if the buyers believe the risk is , regardless of the actual care level provided by the restaurant?


No Liability Case:

When consumers can accurately assess risk sellers know consumers will choose buy or not based on total consumption cost (price +expected harm)

Low (perceived total cost of consumption)

High

Restaurant will choose high level of care to attract more consumers

Efficient


When consumers know only the average risk in the market, not the risk from consuming in a particular restaurant.

No incentive to increase the care. That means every restaurant will choose the low level of care.

Consumers are ignorant