Abstract
The goal of this paper is to analyse determinants of the performance of commercial district courts in Poland in the period 2009–2016 in terms of the number of resolved cases. To this end we apply a panel data approach to identify factors affecting court output (i.e. the number of cases adjudicated) and stochastic frontier analysis to investigate determinants of court efficiency in resolving cases. Although we found that the judicial system in Poland is mostly driven by the demand for justice, the results indicate that an increase in the number of judges can significantly enhance the number of resolved cases that require a full court trial. We also found that court efficiency is significantly associated with some auxiliary court staff members and variables capturing economic development of court jurisdiction. Specifically, we found that judge assistants increase court efficiency in resolving commercial cases requiring a full trial and court clerks boost court efficiency in resolving writ-of-payment cases.
Highlights
A properly functioning judiciary is an essential cog in the wheel of the market economy, in particular its ability to resolve cases in timely fashion
For all analysed cases the point estimate indicates that a 10% increase in the number of newly filed commercial cases is followed on average by a 9.7% growth in the number of resolved cases
The elasticity of the number of resolved cases to the number of filed cases is high for cases requiring a full court trial and writ-of-payment cases; a relatively lower elasticity was established for non-litigious cases
Summary
A properly functioning judiciary is an essential cog in the wheel of the market economy, in particular its ability to resolve cases in timely fashion. The existing survey-based evidence (see, e.g. World Bank 2018, CEPEJ 2018) together with the selected state court data approach (Murrell 2001; Dimitrova-Grajzl et al 2012, 2016) suggests that post-Communist countries have yet to succeed in establishing an efficient judiciary. This is a red flag indicator for trade and commerce, as the available literature shows a clear link between an inefficient judiciary and adverse effects for the national economy.
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