Judicial Efficiency and Economic Growth: Evidence based on EU data

Anastasios Rizos and Panayotis Kapopoulos ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The growth-enhancing property of a well-functioned judicial system is documented on the back of the safeguarding of property rights and legal investor protection, the well-functioning of financial markets, the support to entrepreneurship and the upholding of the firm growth. We investigate the effects of judicial efficiency on economic growth, using a new dataset over the period 2010-2018 drawn by the EU Justice Scoreboard study. More specifically, we estimate a static growth equation controlling for alternative judicial efficiency measures. Our findings corroborate that the inefficiencies in the operation of judicial systems pose obstacles to economic growth, and consequently, positive developments in judicial efficiency can be growth enhancing. Specifically, inefficiencies in the operation of judicial systems, measured alternatively as (a) lengthier court proceedings, (b) lower rates of clearance of accumulated unresolved cases, (c) increasing burden of pending cases and (d) a high inflow of new cases, all undermine economic growth. Our results justify the further adoption of judicial reforms in European Union members, that strengthen the enforcement of private contracts, incentivizing the domestic and external investment decisions and supporting the European economies to achieve and sustain robust growth rates. Finally, we find that civil origin legal systems, which are characterized by a higher degree of formalism in judicial procedures relative to common law origin systems, hinder economic growth.

Keywords: judicial efficiency; economic growth; disposition time; clearance rate; caseload (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 C26 K40 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-eec, nep-eff, nep-fdg and nep-law
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