The inclusion of a social clause into the GATT has been proposed by many industrialized countries on human rights grounds. The introduction of fundamental human rights may improve the economic well being of citizens in developing countries in the long run, although the short run adjustment costs...

Rational politicians are interested in judicial independence (JI) in order to make their promises credible. But if politicians' preferences deviate from the dicta of the judiciary, they also have incentives to renege on judicial independence. These two conflicting aspects are measured by two...

This paper provides a quantitative review of the empirical literature on the tax impact on corporate debt financing. Synthesizing the evidence from 46 previous studies, we find that this impact is substantial. In particular, the tax rate proxy determines the outcome of primary analyses. Measures...