Consequences of inconvenient information: Evidence from sentencing disparities

Abstract

Inconvenient information about the performance of public institutions may undermine public trust. In an experiment, I test how information about sentencing disparities among judges in the Czech Republic affects respondents' perception of the judicial system. I find no effect on respondents' declared institutional trust and willingness to rely on the formal judicial system. Instead, the information marginally increased respondents' policy involvement: they became more likely to (i) sign a petition that invites politicians to address the underlying issue, and (ii) consider the fairness of the judicial system to be a more important policy issue. The increased interest in signing the petition was driven by mothers, who are arguably more sensitive to the particular treatment information in the presented case of a failure to pay alimony.