Legal Traditions Legal Reforms And Economic Performance

This book investigates whether legal reforms intended to create a market-friendly regulatory business environment have a positive impact on economic and financial outcomes. After conducting a critical review of the legal origins literature, the authors first analyze the evolution of legal rules and regulations during the last decade (2006-2014). For that purpose, the book uses legal/regulatory indicators from the World Bank's Doing Business Project (2015). The findings indicate that countries have actively reformed their legal systems during this period, particularly French civil law countries. A process of convergence in the evolution of legal rules and regulations is observed: countries starting in 2006 in a lower position have improved more than countries with better initial scores. Also, French civil law countries have reformed their legal systems to a larger extent than common law countries and, consequently, have improved more in the majority of the Doing Business indicators used. Second, the authors estimate fixed-effects panel regressions to analyze the relationship between changes in legal rules and regulations and changes in the real economy. The findings point to a lack of systematic effects of legal rules and regulations on economic and financial outcomes. This result stands in contrast to the widespread belief that reforms aiming to strengthen investor and creditor rights (and other market-friendly policies) systematically lead to better economic and financial outcomes.

Almost everyone will gain something of value from reading this book. For those who work in the new institutional economics, Pejovich provides a thoughtful treatment of how common-law and civil-law systems affect personal freedoms and rule of law. The book s larger market, however, will comprise educated lay readers, who will gain a deeper appreciation of the foundations of capitalism in the developed world and of the dynamics of interrelated institutional and economic change. Lee J. Alston, The Independent Review . . . a well written, easily read book which casts light on many aspects of law and on questions which are or should be debated in our law schools. . . well laid out and presented. . . Its subject matter makes it essential reading for all those studying comparative law and of course law and economics and even for those studying legislation. It would be more than useful for those engaged in property law, the law of contract and administrative and public law. In other words it would be useful and challenging reading for just about all law teachers and students as well as practitioners who wish to think about the basics of what they are doing. Its easy combination of history, comparative technique, legal fundamentals and economics with no maths would even make it an excellent reader for LAWS 101. Bernard Robertson, New Zealand Law Journal Professor Pejovich has written an impressive lot on comparative economic systems, institutions, policies and broader social aspects of economic development. . . His long work in the field quite predictably made him able to present his views and findings in an ever clearer, more orderly and more profoundly argued way. . . This is one of the rare books in which the author is well aware of what he is talking about and makes sure that the same goes for his readers. Ljubomir Madzar Professor Pejovich has ranged expertly across such seemingly disparate areas as legal systems, culture, economics and public choice theory to give us a thoroughly convincing roadmap for a nation s economic success. The rule of law, enforcement of private contracts, private property rights and an independent judiciary are the basic building blocks. But the common law system, as compared to the civil law system emanating from the European continent, also gets a lot of the credit. This is an erudite, yet happily readable work that takes a lot of the mystery out of differential economic performance among nations. Henry G. Manne, George Mason University School of Law, US Written by one of the pioneers of modern property rights economics this book provides a most insightful, well readable and engaged discussion of the institutional foundations of the Western free enterprise system and the reason for its success, with a special emphasis on the differences between common law and civil law institutions. Readers will especially appreciate the many instructive examples and court cases that serve to illustrate the general argument. Viktor J. Vanberg, Universitaet Freiburg, Germany This is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why Western capitalism has outperformed all other economic systems. Professor Pejovich explains how the institutions of capitalism, especially those based on common law, make for excellence, even in comparison with Western civil law countries. He presents a compelling theory of how systems evolve through the interactions of formal and informal institutions, an analysis that has deep significance for economic reform proposals throughout the world. John H. Moore, Grove City College, US There are many books on the virtues of capitalism and capitalism as a moral system. Steve Pejovich avoids that mistake. Capitalism, for him, is a system based on human behavior. It survives because it meets the needs that individuals face and provides opportunities that individuals are able to accept. Unlike the utopian visions that have competed against capitalism, it does not impose the vision of a

This 2006 book is a collection of essays that identify and analyze a new phase in thinking about the role of law in economic development and in the practices of development agencies that support law reform. The authors trace the history of theory and doctrine in this field, relating it to changing ideas about development and its institutional practices. The essays describe a new phase in thinking about the relation between law and economic development and analyze how this rising consensus differs from previous efforts to use law as an instrument to achieve social and economic progress. In analyzing the current phase, these essays also identify tensions and contradictions in current practice. This work is a comprehensive treatment of this emerging paradigm, situating it within the intellectual and historical framework of the most influential development models since World War II.

Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.

A History of Law in Canada is the first of two volumes. Volume one begins at a time just prior to European contact and continues to the 1860s, while volume two will start with Confederation and end at approximately 2000. The history of law includes substantive law, legal institutions, legal actors, and legal culture. The authors assume that since 1500 there have been three legal systems in Canada - the Indigenous, the French, and the English. At all times, these systems have co-existed and interacted, with the relative power and influence of each being more or less dominant in different periods. The history of law cannot be treated in isolation, and this book examines law as a dynamic process, shaped by and affecting other histories over the long term. The law guided and was guided by economic developments, was influenced and moulded by the nature and trajectory of political ideas and institutions, and variously exacerbated or mediated intercultural exchange and conflict. These themes are apparent in this examination, and through most areas of law including land settlement and tenure, and family, commercial, constitutional, and criminal law.

Rules, Rubrics and Riches highlights the limitations of existing approaches to understanding the relationship of the law to the process of development. It interrogates neoclassical economic thinking that draws on the narrow rubric of self-interest to understand the acquisition of riches. It takes issue with both the traditional ‘law and development’ movement, that was unable to shake colonial overtones, and the more recent ‘law and economics’ school that continues to emphasise the centrality of rational man at the micro level and the superiority of linear models of economic progress at the macro level. Written as an analysis of and commentary on the contribution of the law to international development, using legal cases and development trajectories in China, India and Malaysia, the book makes the case that individuals do not operate in a vacuum but rather within the social contexts of larger human structures such as family, community and nation. Rules, Rubrics and Riches is distinctive in the view that demanding equality for the individual is inappropriate if this occurs without looking at the broader context of the need for equity: within families, communities and nations. The book offers a new frame for 'law and development' thinking that point to a new set of rules, using a broader rubrics to ensure a sustainable accumulation of riches. It will be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of law and development, development studies and international and comparative law.

The essays in this book present important perspectives on the role of Indigenous legal traditions in reclaiming and preserving the autonomy of Aboriginal communities and in reconciling the relationship between these communities and Canadian governments. Although Indigenous peoples had their own systems of law based on their social, political, and spiritual traditions, under colonialism their legal systems have often been ignored or overruled by non-Indigenous laws. Today, however, these legal traditions are being reinvigorated and recognized as vital for the preservation of the political autonomy of Aboriginal nations and the development of healthy communities.

The provision of legal technical assistance has in recent years become a major concern for international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and for Western-based bilateral donor agencies. This book offers critical perspectives for the evaluation of legal technical assistance projects and contains proposals for action and research. Five chapters offer general perspectives on law, state and civil society and the remaining six case studies on themes such as economic regulation, agrarian reform, representation of women and access to justice.