TY  - JOUR
AU  - Porta,Rafael La
AU  - Lopez-de-Silanes,Florencio
AU  - Shleifer,Andrei
TI  - The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13608
PY  - 2007
Y2  - November 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13608
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13608.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Rafael La Porta
Dartmouth College
Tuck School
210 Tuck Hall
Hanover, NH  03755
Tel: 603/646-3739
E-Mail: rafael.laporta@dartmouth.edu

Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes
EDHEC Business School
393, Promenade des Anglais BP 3116
06202 Nice Cedex 3
France
Tel: +33 (0) 4 93 18 78 07
Fax: +33 (0) 4 93 18 78 41
E-Mail: Florencio.lopezdesilanes@edhec.edu

Andrei Shleifer
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center M-9
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-5046
Fax: 617/496-1708
E-Mail: ashleifer@harvard.edu
AB  - In the last decade, economists have produced a considerable body of research suggesting that the historical origin of a country's laws is highly correlated with a broad range of its legal rules and regulations, as well as with economic outcomes.  We summarize this evidence and attempt a unified interpretation.  We also address several objections to the empirical claim that legal origins matter.  Finally, we assess the implications of this research for economic reform.
ER  -