Appellate court assignments as a natural experiment: Gender panel effects in sex discrimination cases

@article{Erikson2022AppellateCA,
  title={Appellate court assignments as a natural experiment: Gender panel effects in sex discrimination cases},
  author={Robert S. Erikson},
  journal={Journal of Empirical Legal Studies},
  year={2022}
}
  • R. Erikson
  • Published 13 April 2022
  • Economics
  • Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
This paper argues that causal inference about panel effects on the US Courts of Appeals can be advanced by taking advantage of the random assignment of judges to cases. The substantive example is gender panel effects in sex-discrimination cases. The paper makes an empirical claim that on sex-discrimination cases, judge assignment can be considered as-if random. Treating the data as a series of natural experiments, the paper confirms that the presence of a female judge on a panel influences male… 
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