of these measures to arrive at a variable that would indicate how clear an opinion is. [Write Two of the more about clarity this is new stuff I added to show the text analysis angle]. – most popular readability scores used the Flesch-Kinkaid test and the Grade Level test tap into – – how easy and at what grade level a corpus is. Others like the LINC test try to test the tone of the decision, such as whether the tone is positive or negative. Other scholars have looked at opinion clarity from the top downward; here I would hypothesize that appellate judges are more likely to defer to more clearly written opinions. Economic, Case and Control Variables I also included a host of economic and case-specific factors. As the outcome of labor cases could be influenced by present economic conditions, I included the inflation rate as a control variable, and in other specifications not referenced here, I alternatively included the unemployment rate. I included a variable concerning the number of cases, as the court could be more likely to rule in favor of labor if there are more allegations in the complaint (Taratoot 2013). The region where the case originated from could influence outcomes, as the South generally is more hostile to labor. In addition, I included circuit court fixed effects as an independent variable. As Sunstein et al. (2004) found, there are significant party differences vary across circuits, with the 3rd, 5th and 7th circuits having small party effects (less than 8) with the 9 circuit having large party effects (27%) in voting behavior. Moreover, any lawyer will advise that circuits have reputations for being more or less liberal or conservative, with the Ninth circuit being touted as unusually liberal and some of the southern circuits, namely the 4th, 5th and 11th circuits being seen as more conservative (Ying 2009; Fischmann 2009). In addition to circuit court fixed effects, I included year fixed effects. I also looked at whether the union involved in the case was a union that is a repeat litigant.
of these measures to arrive at a variable that would indicate how clear an opinion is. [Write more about clarity – this is new stuff I added to show the text analysis angle]. Two of the most popular readability scores used – the Flesch-Kinkaid test and the Grade Level test – tap into how easy and at what grade level a corpus is. Others like the LINC test try to test the tone of the decision, such as whether the tone is positive or negative. Other scholars have looked at opinion clarity from the top downward; here I would hypothesize that appellate judges are more likely to defer to more clearly written opinions. Economic, Case and Control Variables I also included a host of economic and case-specific factors. As the outcome of labor cases could be influenced by present economic conditions, I included the inflation rate as a control variable, and in other specifications not referenced here, I alternatively included the unemployment rate. I included a variable concerning the number of cases, as the court could be more likely to rule in favor of labor if there are more allegations in the complaint (Taratoot 2013). The region where the case originated from could influence outcomes, as the South generally is more hostile to labor. In addition, I included circuit court fixed effects as an independent variable. As Sunstein et al. (2004) found, there are significant party differences vary across circuits, with the 3rd, 5th and 7th circuits having small party effects (less than 8) with the 9 circuit having large party effects (27%) in voting behavior. Moreover, any lawyer will advise that circuits have reputations for being more or less liberal or conservative, with the Ninth circuit being touted as unusually liberal and some of the southern circuits, namely the 4th, 5th and 11th circuits being seen as more conservative (Ying 2009; Fischmann 2009). In addition to circuit court fixed effects, I included year fixed effects. I also looked at whether the union involved in the case was a union that is a repeat litigant.
semet_paper_01.docx