This paper suggests that attitudes towards markets can account for the stickiness of institutions of civil freedom. This proposition rests on three insights. The first is that the provision of different civil freedoms is determined by rent-seeking activities. The second is that “civil” and...

This paper is an attempt to contribute to the literature on the relationship between economic development and democratic institutions. The paper focuses on civil liberties and interprets them in a framework in which there is no dividing line drawn between “civil” and “property” rights....

The “efficient institutions view” on property rights claims that property rights emerged and are enforced when their enforcement maximizes net wealth. In a cross-country pattern this is usually understood as the prediction that economic development creates the incentives to provide higher...

According to the so-called Lipset hypothesis, economic development – a growing income and a growing level of education – creates the “social requisites” for democratic institutions. This proposition receives much support in the contemporary economic literature. This paper addresses a...

Sub-Saharan African countries have undergone fundamental changes in political regime type, but political institutions which allocate power and determine how it is transferred have not witnessed any fundamental change. This has resulted in what we term adverse political selection; a mismatch...

A number of sequential events spanning the last fifty years has given proponents of capitalism, advocating minimal state involvement in the economy, decisive victory, not only over socialism but over heavy government engagement in the economy The main contention of this piece is to prove that...

This paper examines two widely held perceptions about capitalism, challenging the popular view that capitalism is a villainous perpetuator and government a saintly corrector of cronyism and inequality. This characterization is largely driven by misperceptions. Capitalism is viewed as a system...

This study analyzes how prevailing institutional arrangements i.e., property rights, contracting rights, political institutions, and corporate governance practices affect privatized firms' performance, capital markets development, and economic growth. Most of the studies surveyed show that...

Adam Smith scholars have debated the nature and contents of his missing second book on jurisprudence or politics. Istvan Hont, a long-time participant in this literature, has proposed a construction of Smith's politics based on two principles introduced in the Lectures on Jurisprudence that...

Must the rule of law spring upon us solely by accident and force, or can it also emerge as a product of political reflection and choice? As the lessons in the political and economic transition of centrally planned economies in Europe and Asia illustrate, the transitional movement requires an...