The launch of the single currency in Europe in January 1999 was preceded by a period of regulatory harmonization, convergence in bond yields and inflation rates, and strict fiscal policy across the Eurozone countries. We examine whether the 1990s also were characterized by increased stock market...

We assemble and analyze a new data set of homeowner insurance claims from 28 independently operated country subsidiaries of a multinational insurance company. A fundamental feature of the data is that such claims are often disputed, and lead to rejections or lower payments. We propose a new...

We present a new measure of legal protection of minority shareholders against expropriation by corporate insiders: the anti-self-dealing index. Assembled with the help of Lex Mundi law firms, the index is calculated for 72 countries based on legal rules prevailing in 2003, and focuses on private...

In the Anglo-American constitutional tradition, judicial checks and balances are often seen as crucial guarantees of freedom. Hayek (1960) distinguishes two ways in which the judiciary provides such checks and balances: judicial independence and constitutional review. We create a new data base...

We establish five facts about the informal economy in developing countries.  First, it is huge, reaching about half of the total in the poorest countries.   Second, it has extremely low productivity compared to the formal economy: informal firms are typically small, inefficient, and run by...