About
Christoph Goessmann, a PhD candidate at ETH Zurich, has carved out a research niche at the unique intersection of data science and economics. His expansive empirical research encompasses topics as diverse as procedural fairness in courts, data literacy in international organizations, and the intricate structures of health care systems.
Research
Goessmann’s quest to investigate potential gender and religious imbalance in court required access to and analysis of copious amounts of public data from the official Indian e-Courts Platform. With the use of Bright Data’s market-leading Datacenter Proxies, Christoph and his team could securely and efficiently collect and analyze the necessary data to answer the research question: does the gender or religion of judges influence judicial outcomes in India?
Impact
The partnership with The Bright Initiative bore fruitful results. Christoph said, “Our Partnership with Bright Data allowed us to check if gender and religious imbalance of Indian courts affect judicial outcomes…In the aggregate, we find no evidence of such bias: Judges of different genders do not treat defendants differently according to defendant gender, nor do judges display favoritism on the basis of religion”.
The research outcomes not only debunked commonly held perceptions of bias but also showcased how technology can aid in investigating complex societal issues. This research sets a precedent for future researchers and emphasizes the role of data science in promoting fairness and transparency in our institutions.
