American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Monotonicity among Judges: Evidence from Judicial Panels and Consequences for Judge IV Designs
American Economic Review
(pp. 189–208)
Abstract
Judge IV designs rely on monotonicity—each judge being weakly stricter than more lenient judges in all cases. I measure monotonicity in judicial panels in five different settings and find that it is violated in up to 50 percent of nonunanimous cases. The monotonicity violations are not detected by conventional tests, but they would typically induce little bias in judge IV estimates.Citation
Sigstad, Henrik. 2026. "Monotonicity among Judges: Evidence from Judicial Panels and Consequences for Judge IV Designs." American Economic Review 116 (1): 189–208. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20231104Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C26 Single Equation Models: Single Variables: Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
- K41 Litigation Process
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements