Abstract
Online courts are emerging around the world, yet their effects on litigation remain empirically underexplored. Building on the Landes–Posner–Gould model, the paper argues that lower process costs in online courts are able to shift party's optimal choice from no action and settlement to litigation and, in aggregate, increase the number of disputes resolved in court. Moreover, since these cost reductions are uneven, the magnitude of this effect is expected to vary across contexts. These predictions are then tested using a quasi-experiment that exploits the staggered introduction of three internet courts in China. Empirical findings reveal a substantial increase in the volume of litigation in treated cities, with particularly pronounced growth in procedural cases and cases with legal representation. Despite the higher caseload, there is no significant decline in overall adjudicative quality, consistent with the institutional specialization and technological capabilities of internet courts.