The quality of contracting institutions has been thought to be of second-order importance next to the impact that good property rights institutions can have on long-run growth. Using a large range of proxies for each type of institution, we find a robust negative link between the quality of...

There is a large and growing literature on the relationship between financial development and economic growth. It suggests a positive causal link running from finance to growth. We consider, in broad terms, the existing historical evidence on this connection. We demonstrate that constraints on...

We present a survey of the finance-growth nexus that raises a number of qualifications to the mainstream interpretation. Doubts regarding empirical consensus are investigated and we consider the prevalence of cross-section econometrics as dominant in shaping the present theoretical consensus. To...