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Peer effects in judicial decisions: Evidence from Spanish labour courts

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  • Martín-Román, Ángel
  • Moral, Alfonso
  • Martínez-Matute, Marta

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to estimate peer effects in judicial decisions by exploring whether local and/or regional patterns may impact these decisions. The analysis of these patterns allows us to detect the existence of different social or neighbourhood effects, namely, contextual, correlated and peer effects. Our empirical analysis is based on the General Council of the Judiciary database, which provides court level information on the number of cases resolved in favour of the worker by judges between 2004 and 2010. Methodologically, we build different spatial correlation matrices to find local and/or regional patterns. Underlying the current analysis is the notion that judges might be influenced by the decisions taken by their colleagues in neighbouring provincial or even regional courts. Our results point to the absence of contextual effects, some significance of correlated effects (likely caused by the existence of a High Court in each region that acts as the highest authority before which appeals may be filed) and strong evidence of peer effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Martín-Román, Ángel & Moral, Alfonso & Martínez-Matute, Marta, 2015. "Peer effects in judicial decisions: Evidence from Spanish labour courts," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 20-37.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:42:y:2015:i:c:p:20-37
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2014.12.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Jimeno Juan F. & Mora-Sanguinetti Juan S. & Martínez-Matute Marta, 2020. "Employment protection legislation, labor courts, and effective firing costs," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Cahuc, Pierre & Carcillo, Stéphane & Patault, Bérengère & Moreau, Flavien, 2020. "Judge Bias in Labor Courts and Firm Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 13794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Miguel Á. Malo & Ángel Martín-Román & Alfonso Moral, 2018. "“Peer effects” or “quasi-peer effects” in Spanish labour court rulings," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 497-525, June.
    4. Pierre Cahuc & Stéphane Carcillo & Bérangère Patault & Flavien Moreau, 2022. "Judge Bias in Labor Courts and Firm Performance," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03881619, HAL.
    5. Paul Latreille, 2017. "The economics of employment tribunals," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 331-331, January.
    6. Ángel L. Martín‐Román & Jaime Cuéllar‐Martín & Alfonso Moral, 2023. "Natural and cyclical unemployment: A stochastic frontier decomposition and economic policy implications," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 5-39, January.
    7. Pierre Cahuc & Stéphane Carcillo & Bérangère Patault & Flavien Moreau, 2022. "Judge Bias in Labor Courts and Firm Performance," Working Papers hal-03881619, HAL.
    8. Ángel L. Martín‐Román & Jaime Cuéllar‐Martín & Alfonso Moral, 2020. "Labor supply and the business cycle: The “bandwagon worker effect”," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(6), pages 1607-1642, December.
    9. Freyens, Benoit Pierre & Gong, Xiaodong, 2020. "Judicial arbitration of unfair dismissal cases: The role of peer effects," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Moral, Alfonso & Rosales, Virginia & Martín-Román, Ángel, 2021. "Professional vs. non-professional labour judges: their impact on the quality of judicial decisions," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Peer effects; Spatial correlation; Labour courts; Layoffs; Judges’ decisions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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