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How has the Covid19 pandemic impacted the courts of law? Evidence from Brazil

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  • Castelliano, Caio
  • Grajzl, Peter
  • Watanabe, Eduardo

Abstract

We provide empirical insight into the consequences of the Covid19 pandemic for the administration of justice. Drawing on a comprehensive monthly panel of Brazilian labor courts and using a difference-in-difference approach, we show that the pandemic has had a large and persistent deleterious effect on adjudicatory efficacy, leading to a massive decrease in the clearance rate and an increase in court backlogs. The pandemic has affected how courts dispose adjudication cases, expectedly causing a plummeting in the share of disputes resolved via trial hearings and, less predictably, exerting a temporally non-linear effect on the share of in-court settlements. Notably, we find no evidence of an effect of the pandemic on efficacy in enforcement. Although the pandemic led to an increase in the share of new filings requiring enforcement, any effect on the relative use of enforcement to execute court-ordered payments has been intermittent and temporary. The intensity of the pandemic has been an important moderating factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Castelliano, Caio & Grajzl, Peter & Watanabe, Eduardo, 2021. "How has the Covid19 pandemic impacted the courts of law? Evidence from Brazil," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:66:y:2021:i:c:s0144818821000132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2021.105989
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    1. Stef, Nicolae & Bissieux, Jean-Joachim, 2022. "Resolution of corporate insolvency during COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence from France," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid19; Courts; Brazil; Labor justice; Adjudication; Enforcement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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