EFFICIENCY ESTIMATES FOR JUDICIAL SERVICES IN BRAZIL: NONPARAMETRIC FDH (FREE DISPOSAL HULL) AND THE EXPECTED ORDER- M EFFICIENCY SCORES FOR RIO GRANDE DO SUL COURTS´

In this paper we have attempted to appraise, quantitatively, the efficiency levels of the justice courts in Rio Grande do Sul. For that purpose, we analyzed the relationship between output and inputs by constructing nonparametric efficiency frontiers.Two different techniques of efficiency analysis were used to determine this frontier: the FDH approach and the order-m frontier. Our results provided useful insights into the assessment of the administrative efficiency of courts. The expected order-m frontier produces more reliable results as it is not affected by the curse of dimensionality as is the case of most nonparametric measurements. We show also that efficiency losses are particularly important for small courts, thus suggesting the presence of economies of scale. Due to their size, smaller courts do not explore the economies of scale in the production of justice services. They tend to use relatively more resources, as they do not benefit from the specialization, found out in larger courts. This can be inferred by the estimated substantial reducible backlog that characterizes those courts. This is a quite robust result, supported by both methodologies.