Title

The Appeals Process and Adjudicator Incentives

Document Type

Article

Comments

Subsequently published in Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 35, No. 1, January 2006, 1-29.

Abstract

The appeals process -- whereby litigants can have decisions of adjudicators reviewed by a higher authority -- is a general feature of formal legal systems (and of many private decisionmaking procedures). It leads to the making of better decisions, because it constitutes a threat to adjudicators whose decisions would deviate too much from socially desirable ones. Further, it yields this benefit without absorbing resources to the extent that adjudicators can anticipate when appeals would occur and would thus make decisions to forestall the actual occurrence of appeals.

Date of Authorship for this Version

August 2004