IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/ejlwec/v42y2016i2d10.1007_s10657-016-9531-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of judicial efficiency: a survey

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Voigt

    (University of Hamburg)

Abstract

Court delay has been much lamented about the world over. Judicial efficiency is one important element in keeping it under control. This paper surveys the available evidence concerning the determinants of differences in judges’ output. It points out weaknesses in the literature and makes a number of proposals how these could be relieved.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Voigt, 2016. "Determinants of judicial efficiency: a survey," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 183-208, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:42:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10657-016-9531-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-016-9531-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10657-016-9531-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10657-016-9531-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Zajc, Katarina, 2014. "Understanding modes of civil case disposition: Evidence from Slovenian courts," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 924-939.
    2. Melcarne Alessandro & Ramello Giovanni B., 2015. "Judicial Independence, Judges’ Incentives and Efficiency," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 149-169, July.
    3. Lode Vereeck & Manuela Mühl, 2000. "An Economic Theory of Court Delay," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 243-268, November.
    4. Chemin, Matthieu, 2009. "Do judiciaries matter for development? Evidence from India," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 230-250, June.
    5. B. Hollingsworth & P. Smith, 2003. "Use of ratios in data envelopment analysis," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(11), pages 733-735.
    6. Giuffrida, Antonio & Gravelle, Hugh & Sutton, Matthew, 2000. "Efficiency and administrative costs in primary care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 983-1006, November.
    7. Buonanno Paolo & Galizzi Matteo M., 2014. "Advocatus, et non Latro? Testing the Excess of Litigation in the Italian Courts of Justice," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(3), pages 285-322, November.
    8. Mitsopoulos, Michael & Pelagidis, Theodore, 2007. "Does staffing affect the time to dispose cases in Greek courts?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 219-244.
    9. Kirchgassner, Gebhard & Pommerehne, Werner W, 1993. "Low-Cost Decisions as a Challenge to Public Choice," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 77(1), pages 107-115, September.
    10. Santos, Sérgio P. & Amado, Carla A.F., 2014. "On the need for reform of the Portuguese judicial system – Does Data Envelopment Analysis assessment support it?," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-16.
    11. Martin Schneider, 2005. "Judicial Career Incentives and Court Performance: An Empirical Study of the German Labour Courts of Appeal," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 127-144, September.
    12. Massimo Finocchiaro Castro & Calogero Guccio, 2014. "Searching for the source of technical inefficiency in Italian judicial districts: an empirical investigation," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 369-391, December.
    13. Falavigna, Greta & Ippoliti, Roberto & Manello, Alessandro & Ramello, Giovanni B., 2015. "Judicial productivity, delay and efficiency: A Directional Distance Function (DDF) approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(2), pages 592-601.
    14. Chemin, Matthieu, 2009. "The impact of the judiciary on entrepreneurship: Evaluation of Pakistan's "Access to Justice Programme"," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 114-125, February.
    15. Roberto Ippoliti & Alessandro Melcarne & Giovanni Ramello, 2015. "Judicial efficiency and entrepreneurs’ expectations on the reliability of European legal systems," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 75-94, August.
    16. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    17. Miika Linna, 1998. "Measuring hospital cost efficiency with panel data models," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(5), pages 415-427, August.
    18. Posner, Richard A., 2010. "From the new institutional economics to organization economics: with applications to corporate governance, government agencies, and legal institutions," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-37, March.
    19. William M. Landes, 1974. "An Economic Analysis of the Courts," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 164-214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Michael Mitsopoulos & Theodore Pelagidis, 2010. "Greek appeals courts’ quality analysis and performance," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 17-39, August.
    21. Maja Micevska & Arnab K Hazra, 2004. "The Problem Of Court Congestion: Evidence From The Indian Lower Courts," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2004 2, Royal Economic Society.
    22. Micevska, Maja B. & Hazra, Arnab K., 2004. "The Problem Of Court Congestion: Evidence From Indian Lower Courts," Discussion Papers 18750, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    23. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    24. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Slavov, Atanas & Zajc, Katarina, 2016. "Courts in a transition economy: Case disposition and the quantity–quality tradeoff in Bulgaria," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 18-38.
    25. Matthieu Chemin, 2012. "Does Court Speed Shape Economic Activity? Evidence from a Court Reform in India," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 460-485, August.
    26. Nora Elbialy & Miguel A. García-Rubio, 2011. "Assessing Judicial Efficiency of Egyptian First Instance Courts: A DEA Analysis," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201119, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    27. Antonio Giuffrida & Hugh Gravelle, 2001. "Measuring performance in primary care: econometric analysis and DEA," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 163-175.
    28. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Sustersic, Janez & Zajc, Katarina, 2012. "Court output, judicial staffing, and the demand for court services: Evidence from Slovenian courts of first instance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 19-29.
    29. Giuseppe Vita, 2012. "Normative complexity and the length of administrative disputes: evidence from Italian regions," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 197-213, August.
    30. Buscaglia, Edgardo & Ulen, Thomas, 1997. "A quantitative assessment of the efficiency of the judicial sector in Latin America," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 275-291, June.
    31. Lewin, Arie Y & Morey, Richard C & Cook, Thomas J, 1982. "Evaluating the administrative efficiency of courts," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 401-411.
    32. Di Vita, Giuseppe, 2010. "Production of laws and delays in court decisions," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 276-281, September.
    33. Frank B. Cross & Dain C. Donelson, 2010. "Creating Quality Courts," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(3), pages 490-510, September.
    34. Gravelle, H. S. E., 1990. "Rationing trials by waiting: Welfare implications," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 255-270, December.
    35. Maria da Conceição Sampaio de Sousa & Silvane Battaglin Schwengber, 2005. "Efficiency Estimates For Judicial Services In Brazil: Nonparametric Fdh (Free Disposal Hull) And The Expected Order- M Efficiency Scores For Rio Grande Do Sul Courts´," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 053, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    36. Jonas Schreyögg & Tom Stargardt & Oliver Tiemann, 2011. "Costs and quality of hospitals in different health care systems: a multi‐level approach with propensity score matching," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 85-100, January.
    37. Beenstock, Michael & Haitovsky, Yoel, 2004. "Does the appointment of judges increase the output of the judiciary?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 351-369, September.
    38. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    39. Bielen Samantha & Marneffe Wim & Vereeck Lode, 2015. "An Empirical Analysis of Case Disposition Time in Belgium," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 293-316, July.
    40. Fatih Deyneli, 2012. "Analysis of relationship between efficiency of justice services and salaries of judges with two-stage DEA method," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 477-493, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Slavov, Atanas & Zajc, Katarina, 2016. "Courts in a transition economy: Case disposition and the quantity–quality tradeoff in Bulgaria," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 18-38.
    2. Gupta, Maansi & Bolia, Nomesh B., 2024. "Factors affecting efficient discharge of judicial functions: Insights from Indian courts," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Samantha Bielen & Wim Marneffe & Peter Grajzl & Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl, 2018. "The Duration of Judicial Deliberation: Evidence from Belgium," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 174(2), pages 303-333, June.
    4. Roberto Ippoliti, 2015. "La riforma della geografia giudiziaria: efficienza tecnica e domanda di giustizia," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(2), pages 91-124.
    5. Peter Grajzl & Shikha Silwal, 2020. "The functioning of courts in a developing economy: evidence from Nepal," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 101-129, February.
    6. Samantha Bielen & Peter Grajzl & Wim Marneffe, 2017. "Understanding the Time to Court Case Resolution: A Competing Risks Analysis Using Belgian Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 6450, CESifo.
    7. Jarosław Bełdowski & Łukasz Dąbroś & Wiktor Wojciechowski, 2020. "Judges and court performance: a case study of district commercial courts in Poland," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 171-201, August.
    8. Berlemann, Michael & Christmann, Robin, 2017. "The Role of Precedents on Court Delay - Evidence from a civil law country," MPRA Paper 80057, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Lopes, Nuno Q.M. & Silva, Maria C.A., 2024. "Scale and scope economies in first-instance courts: Portuguese specialized vs non-specialized courts," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Pontus Mattsson & Jonas Månsson & Christian Andersson & Fredrik Bonander, 2018. "A bootstrapped Malmquist index applied to Swedish district courts," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 109-139, August.
    11. Grajzl, Peter & Silwal, Shikha, 2020. "Multi-court judging and judicial productivity in a career judiciary: Evidence from Nepal," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    12. Roberto Ippoliti & Massimiliano Vatiero, 2014. "An analysis of how 2002 judicial reorganisation has impacted on the performance of the First Instance Courts (Preture) in Ticino," IdEP Economic Papers 1408, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    13. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Sustersic, Janez & Zajc, Katarina, 2012. "Court output, judicial staffing, and the demand for court services: Evidence from Slovenian courts of first instance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 19-29.
    14. Dong, Xiaoge, 2021. "Efficiency of Courts in China – Does Location Matter?," ILE Working Paper Series 50, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    15. Fauvrelle Thiago A. & Tony C Almeida Alessio, 2018. "Determinants of Judicial Efficiency Change: Evidence from Brazil," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-36, March.
    16. Gupta, Maansi & Bolia, Nomesh B., 2020. "Efficiency measurement of Indian high courts using DEA: A policy perspective," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1372-1393.
    17. Mattsson, Pontus & Tidanå, Claes, 2019. "Potential efficiency effects of merging the Swedish district courts," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 58-68.
    18. Roberto Ippoliti & Giovanni B. Ramello, 2018. "Governance of tax courts," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 317-338, November.
    19. Melcarne Alessandro & Ramello Giovanni B., 2015. "Judicial Independence, Judges’ Incentives and Efficiency," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 149-169, July.
    20. Per J. Agrell & Pontus Mattsson & Jonas Månsson, 2020. "Impacts on efficiency of merging the Swedish district courts," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(2), pages 653-679, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Judicial efficiency; Judicial performance; Court delay;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K - Law and Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:42:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10657-016-9531-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.