Can procedural reforms improve judicial efficiency? And do improvements in judicial efficiency benefit firms? The authors study a reform that gave judges in Senegal the powers to desk reject cases and the responsibility to complete pre-trials within four months. They combine three years of hearing-level caseload data and monthly firm tax filings with the staggered roll-out of the reform to produce three key results. First, the reform improved judicial efficiency, with no detrimental effect on quality. Second, firms' monthly revenues drop by 8-11 percent upon entering pre-trial. Third, completing pre-trial within four months significantly reduces this negative impact on revenues. Survey results show firms are willing to pay higher legal fees to achieve post-reform speed, suggesting net positive benefits of the reform on firms.
Details
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Author
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Document Date
2018/03/22
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Document Type
Policy Research Working Paper
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Report Number
WPS8372
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Volume No
1
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Total Volume(s)
1
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Country
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Region
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Disclosure Date
2018/03/22
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Disclosure Status
Disclosed
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Doc Name
The speed of justice
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Keywords
development research group; study period; adjustment period; study design; role of court; civil law system; impact on revenues; commercial dispute resolution; value-added tax; assignment to treatment; Development Impact Evaluation; order of preference; decline in revenue; linear trend; monthly revenue; hazard ratio; Tax Administration; standard error; time sery; commercial cases; legal reform; Judicial Reform; judicial efficiency; survey data; point estimate; insurance companies; legal procedure; substantial variation; functional form; hazard rate; hazard model; investment climate; justice system; Justice Systems; robustness check; legal decision; judicial service; raw data; court procedure; commercial procedure; bankruptcy reform; contract enforcement; court proceeding; individual tax; monthly data; contract dispute; civil dispute; new cases; public decision; primary focus; expert reports; court president; legal counsel; civil trial; phone number; survey area; present analysis; response rate; data gaps; regular operations; address books; legal cost; survey sample; firm survey; positive externality; causal impact; high probability; cross-country variation; legal origin; market performance; selection bias; in economics; short-term adjustment; legal fee; time trend; standard deviation; vertical line; study estimate; research assistance; sample mean; Research Support; procedural delays; chronological order; private gain; solid line; open access; tax filing; data extraction; survey results; economic slowdown; rich economy; survival analysis; exogenous shift; commercial court; tax records; development policy
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Citation
Kondylis,Florence Stein,Mattea
The speed of justice (English). Policy Research working paper,no. WPS 8372,Paper is funded by the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP) Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/455021521720861143/The-speed-of-justice