Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51884 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5917
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Entrepreneurship is usually identified as an important determinant of aggregate productivity and long-term growth. The determinants of entrepreneurship, nevertheless, are not entirely understood. A recent literature has linked entrepreneurship to the development of the justice system. This paper contributes to this literature by evaluating the role of access to justice in determining the incidence of entrepreneurship. We explore the creation of Special Civil Tribunals in the Brazilian state of São Paulo during the 1990s. Special Civil Tribunals increased the geographic presence of the justice system, simplified judicial procedures, and increased the speed of adjudication of disputes. Using census data, and difference-in-differences and instrumental variable strategies, we find that implementation of Special Civil Tribunals led to increased entrepreneurship, defined as the probability that individuals are employers or self-employed. Results are particularly strong and robust for the case of self-employment, and do not seem to be related to other changes in infrastructure or public good provision at the local level, or to pre-existing trends in entrepreneurship.
Subjects: 
access to justice
courts
entrepreneurship
institutions
Brazil
JEL: 
K1
K41
K42
H41
O12
O17
O54
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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