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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 103 No. 2 1995

The Selection Hypothesis and the Relationship between Trial and Plaintiff Victory

Joel Waldfogel1,2,3

1 Twin Cities Orthopedics · 2 University of Minnesota · 3 National Bureau of Economic Research

Abstract

This paper develops implications of the selection hypothesis of Priest and Klein for the relationship between trial rates and plaintiff win rates. I find strong evidence for the selection hypothesis in estimated relationships between trial rates and plaintiff win rates at trial across case types and judges. I then structurally estimate the model on judge data, yielding estimates of the model's major parameters (the decision standard, the degree of stake asymmetry, and the uncertainty parameter) for each of three major case types, contracts, property rights, and torts.

DOI
10.1086/261982
Volume
103
Issue
2
Pages
229-260
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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