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Law, Endowments, and Property Rights

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Ross Levine

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Abstract

While scholars have hypothesized about the sources of variation in property rights for over 2500 years, it is only very recently that researchers have begun to test these theories empirically. This paper reviews both the theory and empirical evidence supporting and refuting the law and endowment views of property rights. The law view holds that historically determined differences in national legal traditions continue to shape cross-country differences in property rights. The endowment view argues that during European colonization, differences in climate, crops, the indigenous population, and the disease environment influenced long-run property rights.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 11502.

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Date of creation: Aug 2005
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11502

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior
O00 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - General - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
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  4. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2001. "Legal Theories of Financial Development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 483-501.
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  6. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov^, Simeon & Fan, Joseph P.H. & Lang, Larry H.P., 2000. "Expropriation of Minority Shareholders in East Asia," CEI Working Paper Series 2000-4, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman, 2000. "Finance and the sources of growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 261-300. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Edward L. Glaeser & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "Do Institutions Cause Growth?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 271-303, 09. [Downloadable!]
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  32. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2003. "Law, endowments, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 137-181, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  33. Ross Levine, 1998. "The legal environment, banks, and long-run economic growth," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Aug, pages 596-620.
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  36. Daniel Berkowitz & Karina Pistor & Jean-Francois Richard, 2001. "Economic Development, Legality, and the Transplant Effect," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 410, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School. [Downloadable!]
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  37. Gerard Caprio & Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2003. "Governance and Bank Valuation," NBER Working Papers 10158, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing, 2006. "Securing property rights in transition: Lessons from implementation of China's rural land contracting law," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21465, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Oded Galor, 2009. "2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture –Comparative Economic Development: Insights from Unified Growth Theory," Working Papers 2009-10, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. John Ammer & Sara B. Holland & David C. Smith & Francis E. Warnock, 2006. "Look at Me Now: What Attracts U.S. Shareholders?," NBER Working Papers 12500, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2007. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," NBER Working Papers 13608, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Alan Martina, 2007. "A Class of Poverty Traps: A Theory and Empirical Tests," ANUCBE School of Economics Working Papers 2007-482, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. John Ammer & Sara B. Holland & David C. Smith & Francis E. Warnock, 2008. "Why do U.S. cross-listings matter?," International Finance Discussion Papers 930, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  7. Alvar Kangur, 2008. "What rules in the 'deep' determinants of comparative development?," Economics Series Working Papers 386, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Ian McLean, 2007. "Might Australia Have Failed? Endowments, Institutions and Contingency," Working Papers 0704, University of Adelaide, School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. C. Fritz Foley & Robin Greenwood, 2008. "The Evolution of Corporate Ownership After IPO: The Impact of Investor Protection," NBER Working Papers 14557, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. John W. Dawson, 2007. "The Empirical Instituions-Growth Literature: Is Something Amiss at the Top?," Working Papers 07-04, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Mitchell Berlin & Yaron Leitner, 2005. "Courts and contractual innovation: a preliminary analysis," Working Papers 05-27, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  12. Fathi Ali & Norbert Fiess & Ronald MacDonald, 2009. "Climbing to the top? Foreign Direct Investment and property rights," Working Papers 2009_01, Department of Economics, University of Glasgow. [Downloadable!]
  13. Thierry Tressel & Enrica Detragiache, 2008. "Do Financial Sector Reforms Lead to Financial Development? Evidence from a New Dataset," IMF Working Papers 08/265, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  14. Ruttan, Vernon W., 2005. "Social Science Knowledge and Induced Institutional Innovation: An Institutional Design Perspective," Staff Papers 13784, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics. [Downloadable!]
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