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The impact of experience on how we perceive the rule of law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2020

Benito Arruñada Open the ORCID record for Benito Arruñada [Opens in a new window]
Benito Arruñada*
Affiliation:
Pompeu Fabra University and BGSE, Barcelona, Spain
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Experience is a major source of knowledge. Could institutions be improved by eliciting the additional knowledge held by experienced individuals? I show here that in several areas of the law experienced individuals are more critical of institutional quality than inexperienced individuals. Moreover, performance indexes built with experienced subsamples substantially alter country rankings. Assuming no unmeasured confounders, more knowledge arguably leads experienced individuals to revise the more benign view held by the general population, composed mostly of inexperienced individuals. Moreover, experience is a stronger driver than alternative sources of knowledge, including education, which might therefore be reinforcing milder and, arguably, incorrect assessments of institutional quality. After observing how this ‘experience effect’ varies systematically across countries, I conclude by proposing that evaluations of institutional quality pay greater attention to experienced individuals and cautioning against basing inferences on assessments made by the general population.

Keywords

Experienceinstitutionsknowledgemeasurementperceptionrule of law
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , June 2020 , pp. 251 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2020

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