Aging and Productivity Among Judges: Some Empirical Evidence from the High Court of Australia

Mita Bhattacharya and Russell Smyth

Australian Economic Papers, 2001, vol. 40, issue 2, 199-212

Abstract: A number of studies have shown that productivity declines with age in a wide range of activities. Based on United States experience, it has been argued that one profession that might be an exception to this phenomenon is the judiciary. This study explores the relationship between aging and productivity for a sample of retired judges of the High Court of Australia. The High Court provides a useful test for the hypothesis that older judges are more productive because, in contrast to the United States, most, if not all, judges write their own judgments. Thus, ghostwriting does not cloud the issue of judicial productivity. The findings support the life‐cycle hypothesis, which suggests the age‐citation profile should increase, reach a peak and then decline as judges get closer to retirement. Thus, the results are consistent with the view that the productivity of judges over their working lives follows a similar pattern to other professions such as academia.

Date: 2001
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