Does Jury Bias Matter?

Posted: 14 May 1999

See all articles by Amy Farmer

Amy Farmer

University of Arkansas - Department of Economics

Paul Pecorino

University of Alabama - Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies

Date Written: March 1999

Abstract

Froeb and Kobayashi (1996) find that endogenous expenditure decisions at trial tend to eliminate an exogenously given jury bias. For interior solutions, they find the initial bias to be totally eliminated. We find, however, that once the participation constraint of the plaintiff and defendant are taken into account, strong priors by the jury tend to deteriorate the quality of the cases which are filed by the plaintiff and defended by the defendant. We also explore an alternative form for jury bias, and find that it is generally non neutral with respect to the trial outcome. We find further that the use of the English rule may compound the effects of a strong jury bias.

Suggested Citation

Farmer, Amy and Pecorino, Paul, Does Jury Bias Matter? (March 1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=163188

Amy Farmer

University of Arkansas - Department of Economics ( email )

Fayetteville, AR 72701
United States
501-575-6093 (Phone)
501-575-3241 (Fax)

Paul Pecorino (Contact Author)

University of Alabama - Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies ( email )

P.O. Box 870244
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
United States
205-348-0379 (Phone)
205-348-0590 (Fax)

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