Helpful Governments

Amin, Mohammad

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: BRIBE;    BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT;    CHECKS;    CIVIL LAW;    COMMON LAW;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4557
RP-ID  :  WPS4557

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper provides an alternative wayof testing the theory of legal origins, one based on afirm's perception of how helpful the government is fordoing business. The author argues that an approach based onfirm perceptions offers a number of advantages over existingstudies. Specifically, the analysis demonstrates thatheavier regulation in civil law compared with common lawcountries is not viewed by businesses as an efficient andsocially desirable response to disorder. Further, thefindings show a strong effect of legal tradition ongovernment helpfulness even after controlling for variousinstitutional measures known to be correlated with the legaltradition of countries. This suggests that there is more tolegal tradition than what existing studies have unearthed.