RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

The economics of courts and litigation

On 20 September 2004, the Director of the Foundation and Professor Francisco Cabrillo Rodríguez signed a research agreement to carry out the abovementioned study. The research was completed in 2007 and published in 2008 by British publishers Edward Elgar in a book by Francisco Cabrillo Rodríguez and Sean Fitzpatrick.

This is the first general book on such a currently relevant issue as the economics of the courts and litigation to focus on the court systems of countries with a tradition of civil law, i.e. most of Europe, almost all of Spanish America and many other countries in the world. Until now, the overwhelming majority of studies conducted have concentrated on the North American judicial system. And, although many of the problems that arise are, logically, the same everywhere, there are important differences that explain both peculiarities in the resolution of certain issues and different levels of litigation or social costs.