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Open For Business? Institutions, Business Environment and Economic Development

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  • Robert Gillanders

    (University College Dublin)

  • Karl Whelan

    (University College Dublin)

Abstract

Recent years have seen a significant focus in the literature on growth and development on the idea that legal and political institutions are the key determinant of economic development. The main finding of this paper is that the focus on the primacy of legal and political institutions may be misplaced and that business-friendly economic policies (proxied for here by the World Bank’s Doing Business indicator) are the key determinant of the level of income per capita. We find that a country’s Doing Business rank dominates a range of measures of legal and political institutional quality as an explanatory variable for income per capita. We also find the Doing Business rank to be a key explanatory variable for economic growth and that previous findings assigning a significant role to educational attainment are not robust to the inclusion of this new indicator in growth regressions.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Gillanders & Karl Whelan, 2010. "Open For Business? Institutions, Business Environment and Economic Development," Working Papers 201040, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201040
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    Cited by:

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    2. Packirisamy Natarajan & Mohammad Tanzeem Raza, 2017. "An Analytical Investigation On Ease Of Doing Business In India," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 2(2), pages 46-69, May.
    3. Davies, Ronald B., 2013. "The silver lining of red tape," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 68-76.
    4. Zunaira Aman & Brigitte Granville & Sushanta K. Mallick & Ilayda Nemlioglu, 2024. "Does greater financial openness promote external competitiveness in emerging markets? The role of institutional quality," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 486-510, January.
    5. Michael Breen & Robert Gillanders, 2012. "Corruption, institutions and regulation," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 263-285, September.
    6. Manuel Carlos Nogueira & Mara Madaleno, 2021. "Is the Aurora Borealis an Inspiration to the Performance of Nordic Economic Sustainability?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-22, September.
    7. Adrian Corcoran & Robert Gillanders, 2015. "Foreign direct investment and the ease of doing business," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(1), pages 103-126, February.
    8. Valentina Diana RUSU & Angela ROMAN, 2016. "The Business Environment In Cee Countries: Current Challenges And Perspectives," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 8(1), pages 128-147, March.
    9. Viana, Jr., Dante Baiardo C. & Lourenço, Isabel & Black, Ervin L. & Martins, Orleans Silva, 2023. "Macroeconomic instability, institutions, and earnings management: An analysis in developed and emerging market countries," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    10. Philip R. Lane, 2013. "Growth And Adjustment Challenges For The Euro Area," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(2), pages 273-295.
    11. Breen, Michael & Gillanders, Robert, 2017. "Does Corruption Ease the Burden of Regulation? National and Subnational Evidence," MPRA Paper 82088, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ummad Mazhar & Fahd Rehman, 2020. "Manufacturing as a Growth Escalator in Low and Middle Income Countries," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(4), pages 790-809, October.
    13. Tamanna Adhikari & Karl Whelan, 2019. "Do Business-Friendly Reforms Boost GDP?," Working Papers 201930, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    14. Minh Quang Dao, 2017. "The impact of public policies and institutions on economic growth in developing countries: New empirical evidence," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 37-49.
    15. Adhikari, Tamanna & Whelan, Karl, 2023. "Did raising doing business scores boost GDP?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 1011-1030.

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