Courts Redux: Micro-evidence From India

Courts play a central role in enforcing contracts and property rights, which supports the development of the formal financial sector, investment, and economic growth. Long lags in trial resolution can increase uncertainty and transaction costs that prevent effective contracting and weaken de facto rights. While this is well supported in theory there is little micro-empirical evidence on the day-to-day functioning of courts anywhere, let alone in the context of a developing economy.