This paper examines the importance of institutional shocks to long-run development. Our empirical method offers a clear empirical test to distinguish between three models of institutional shocks. We define gradual institutional change without a major shock, institutional change imposed by a...

In this article, we study judicial behavior at the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC). British judges in general, and British high court judges in particular, are perceived to be independent and isolated from political pressure and interference. Furthermore, these judges tend to show...

This article re-examines the relationship between constitutional monarchy and economic growth in Europe. We suggest that economic growth explains the survival of constitutional monarchy rather than vice versa. The empirical results are consistent with our hypothesis

In the European political discourse, the potentially vast economic benefits derived from the European Union are taken for granted. In the academic debate, these economic benefits, even if measured in terms of GDP per capita growth, are much less consensual. There are severe methodological...

We discuss the contribution of autocratic tendencies in democratically elected political leaders to the economic growth of developed economies. To this end, we exploit the unique election of Sir Charles Court as state premier of Western Australia in 1975 to estimate the contribution of...

This study investigates the long-term impact of socialism on economic growth, focusing on the unique case of labor-managed socialism in former Yugoslavia. By comparing Slovenia with OECD and East Asian donor countries that did not undergo postwar socialist transitions, we estimate counterfactual...

This article examines the importance of institutional shocks for long-run development with an application to the Iranian revolution. Our empirical method offers a clear test to distinguish between three models of institutional change. We define gradual institutional change without a major shock,...

This paper analyses the economic growth performance in the Arab world over the last forty years. The Arab world has managed to reduce poverty performance despite its relatively disappointing growth performance. We relate this poor performance of both oil and non-oil producers to investment....

In this paper I try to move away from the Extreme Bounds method of identifying ``robust'' empirical relations in the economic growth literature. Instead of analyzing the extreme bounds of the estimates of the coefficient of a particular variable, I analyze the entire distribution. My claim in...

This paper integrates in a unified and tractable framework some of the key insights of the field of international trade and economic growth. It examines a sequence of theoretical models that share a common description of technology and preferences but differ on their assumptions about trade...