How can the quality of judges’ decisions be improved and what factors influence them? NES Professor Sultan Mehmood suggests an unusual answer to this topical question. Together with co-authors Avner Seror (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) and Daniel L. Chen (Toulouse School of Economics), he examined millions of cases and thousands of judges across the Muslim world to show the effect of Ramadan observance, one of the major rituals in Muslim countries, on judicial decisions. The quantitative analysis concludes that Ramadan observance, that is associated with austerity in food and drink, paradoxically, makes judges more lenient.
In this column for GURU, Sultan Mehmood talks about this paper.