An economic damages expert calculates the monetary value of a claim's financial components: past and future lost earnings, lost benefits and household services, and the present value of a life care plan.
The analysis rests on assumptions about work-life expectancy, wage growth, benefit rates, discount rates, and life expectancy.
Alternative Names:
Forensic Economist, Damages Economist
Why it Matters?
Economists convert other experts' assumptions into the number a jury sees, which means the calculation is only as sound as the inputs supplied. Effective defense work attacks the foundation rather than the arithmetic: a vocational assessment that overstates lost capacity or a life care plan with unsupported service frequencies produces an inflated total no matter how competent the economist. Discount rate methodology is the one input worth challenging directly.
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Frequently asked questions
What assumptions drive an economist's total?
Should the defense retain its own economist?
