Replication Data for: Intrinsic Motivation in Public Service: Theory and Evidence from State Supreme Courts

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the intrinsic preferences of state appellate court judges. We construct a panel data set using published decisions from all state supreme courts from 1947 to 1994. We estimate the effects of changes in judge employment conditions on a number of measures of judicial performance. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that judges are intrinsically motivated to provide high-quality decisions, and that at the margin they prefer quality over quantity. When judges face less time pressure -- whether from the introduction of an intermediate appellate court, the weakening of electoral demands, or an increased judge salary -- they write more well-researched opinions that are cited more often by later judges. These effects are strongest when judges have more discretion to select their case portfolio.

本文对州上诉法院法官的内在偏好开展理论与实证分析。我们利用1947年至1994年间全美所有州最高法院的公开判决文书构建面板数据集，就法官任职条件变动对多项司法绩效衡量指标的影响进行了估计。研究结果与下述假说一致：法官具有提供高质量裁判文书的内在动机，且在边际层面更倾向于质量而非数量。当法官面临的时间压力有所降低时——无论是因设立中级上诉法院、选举压力减弱，还是法官薪酬上调所致——其撰写的调研更为充分的裁判意见，会被后续法官更频繁地引用。当法官拥有更大的自主选案权限时，上述效应表现得最为显著。