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 of constitutional rules in 71 countries that reflect these provisions. We find strong support for the proposition that both judicial independence and constitutional review are associated with greater freedom. Consistent with theory, judicial independence accounts for some of the positive effect of common law legal origin on measures of economic freedom. The results point to significant benefits of the Anglo-American system of government for freedom.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
9775.
Length: Date of creation: Jun 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9775
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Article
Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Andrei Shleifer, 2004.
"Judicial Checks and Balances,"
Journal of Political Economy,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 445-470, April.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior O10 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
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