Accessibility Versus Efficiency in the Judiciary: Evidence from the Polish Court Reforms

This chapter focuses on the ‘court reform’ in Poland, in particular the restoration of the so-called small courts in 2015. Previously most of such courts were merged into larger entities, but due to the political pressure, they have been restored. The aim of such restoration was to improve access to courts for residents of rural and small-town areas. Using a two-stage test procedure combining non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis and Tobit regression, we observe that the change was associated with a decrease in the efficiency of those larger courts from which the new courts were separated. It appears that the reintroduction of the small courts was not driven by efficiency but by political considerations.