Paper short abstract

This paper analyzes the quality of high court judicial decisions. Using logistic regression, it argues that external judicial independence, corruption and the academic background of the judges explain the variation in the quality of judicial decisions in 16 Latin American supreme courts.

Paper long abstract

This paper describes and explains the quality of judicial decisions in Latin American supreme courts. Using an original database of surveys, curriculum vitae of judges and institutional indicators, the paper argues that external judicial independence, corruption and judges' academic background explain why some supreme courts cast better rulings than others. Through a logistic estimator applied to judges of 16 Latin American supreme courts, the paper shows that endogenous and exogenous variables influences the performance of the high courts of that region. Contrary to common views, the paper suggests that salaries and workload are not significant in explaining the quality of judicial decisions.