Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tzmfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-28T08:16:06.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taking the Measure of Law: The Case of the Doing Business Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Kevin E. Davis  and
Michael B. Kruse
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article analyzes a number of yearly reports from the World Bank's Doing Business project, an ambitious international effort to measure various aspects of law and development, analyze their interrelationship, develop benchmarks for assessment of legal systems, and suggest legal reforms. After describing the methodology used, we analyze the strengths and limitations of the project, both as a scholarly enterprise and as a set of proposals for legal reform. Our analysis highlights the challenges associated with measuring legal variables in the face of legal complexity and uncertainty, measuring development when the concept of development is contested, tracing causal connections between law and development, and using scholarly research as a basis for legal reform.

Type
Review Essay
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , Fall 2007 , pp. 1095 - 1119
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2007 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Association Henri Capitant des Amis de La Culture Juridique Francaise. 2006. Les Droits de Tradition Civiliste en Question: Á Propos des Rapports Doing Business de la Banque Mondiale. [Civil Law Systems in Question: About the World Bank's Doing Business Reports.] Paris: Société de Législation Comparée.Google Scholar
Batra, Geeta, Kaufmann, Daniel, and Stone, Andrew. 2003. Voices of Firms: Investment Climate and Governance Findings of the World Environment Survey. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Bedford, Tim, and Cooke, Roger. 2001. Probabilistic Risk Analysis: Foundations and Method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, Daniel, Pistor, Katharina, and Richard, Jean-Francois. 2003. The Transplant Effect. American Journal of Comparative Law 51:163–205.Google Scholar
Botero, Juan, Djankov, Simeon, Porta, Rafael, Lopez-De-Silanes, Florencio C., and Shleifer, Andrei. 2004. The Regulation of Labor. Quarterly Journal of Economics 119:1339–82.Google Scholar
Cadotte, Ernest R., Woodruff, Robert B., and Jenkins, Roger L. 1987. Expectations and Norms in Models of Consumer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Research 24:305–14.Google Scholar
Chrystal, K. Alec, and Mizen, Paul D. 2003. Goodhart's Law: Its Origins, Meaning and Implications for Monetary Policy. Vol. 1 of Central Banking, Monetary Theory and Practice: Essays in Honour of Charles Goodhart, ed. Mizen, Paul D. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Cooke, Roger M. 1991. Experts in Uncertainty: Opinion and Subjective Probability in Science. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cooter, Robert. 1997. The Rule of State Law versus the Rule-of-Law-State: Economic Analysis of the Legal Foundations of Development. In Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 1996, ed. Bruno, Michael and Pleskovic, Boris. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Davis, Kevin E. 2004. What Can the Rule of Law Variable Tell Us about Rule of Law Reforms? Michigan Journal of International Law 26:141–61.Google Scholar
Davis, Kevin E., and Trebilcock, Michael J. Unpublished. The Recent Intellectual History of Law and Development.Google Scholar
Djankov, Simeon, Hart, Oliver, Nenova, Tatiana, and Shleifer, Andrei. July 2003. Efficiency in Bankruptcy. Working paper, Department of Economics, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Djankov, Simeon, La Porta, Rafael, Lopez-di-Silanes, Florencio, and Shleifer, Andrei. 2002. The Regulation of Entry. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117:1–37.Google Scholar
Djankov, Simeon, La Porta, Rafael, Lopez-di-Silanes, Florencio, and Shleifer, Andrei. 2003. Courts. Quarterly Journal of Economics 118:453–517.Google Scholar
Djankov, Simeon, McLiesh, Caralee, and Shleifer, Andrei. July 2003. Remedies in Credit Markets. Working paper, Department of Economics, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Fallon, Peter, and Lucas, Robert. 1991. The Impact of Changes in Job Security Regulations in India and Zimbabwe. World Bank Economic Review 5:395–413.Google Scholar
Federal Judicial Center. 1981. Experimentation in the Law: Report of the Federal Judicial Center Advisory Committee on Experimentation in the Law. Washington, DC: Federal Judicial Center.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou, and Knetter, Michael M. 1997. Goods Prices and Exchange Rates: What Have We Learned? Journal of Economic Literature 35:1243–72.Google Scholar
International Organization for Standardization. 2006. Publicizing your ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001:2004 certification. http://www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/certification/publicizing/index.html (accessed May 16, 2006).Google Scholar
Jentzsch, Nicola. 2003. The Regulation of Financial Privacy: A Comparative Study of the United States and Europe. Research Report 5. Brussels: European Credit Research Institute.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Daniel, Kraay, Aart, and Matruzzi, Massimo. 2003. Governance Matters III: Governance Indicators for 1996–2002. World Bank, June 30.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Peter. 2003. A Guide to Econometrics, 5th ed. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
La Porta, Rafael, Lopez-di-Silanes, Florencio, Shleifer, Andrei, and Vishny, Robert. 1998. Law and Finance. Journal of Political Economy 106:1113–55.Google Scholar
Millennium Challenge Corporation. 2007. Millennium Challenge Account—Indicator Descriptions. http://www.mcc.gov/selection/indicators/index.php (accessed May 16, 2007).Google Scholar
Oliver, Richard L. 1993. Cognitive, Affective and Attribute Bases of the Satisfaction Response. Journal of Consumer Research 20:418–30.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Brian J., Strickland, Shauna M., and Hannaford-Agor, Paula L. 2004. Examining Trial Trends in State Courts: 1976–2002. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 1:755–82.Google Scholar
Perry-Kessaris, Amanda. 2003. Finding and Facing Facts about Legal Systems and Foreign Direct Investment in South Asia. Legal Studies 23:649–89.Google Scholar
Priest, George L., and Klein, Benjamin. 1984. The Selection of Disputes for Litigation. Journal of Legal Studies 23:1–55.Google Scholar
Santos, Alvaro. Forthcoming. What Kind of “Flexibility” in Labor and Employment Regulation for Economic Development? Google Scholar
Sautet, Frédéric, Hooks, Brian, and Rothschild, Daniel. 2005. The Challenge Ahead: Maintaining a Focus on Incentives to Enable Development. Public Interest Comment on MCC FY2006 Report to Congress. http://www.mcc.gov/selection/reports/Mercatus_Center_Comment_FY06.PDF (accessed May 16, 2007).Google Scholar
Schneider, Friedrich, and Este, Dominik H. 2000. Shadow Economies: Sizes, Causes and Consequences. Journal of Economic Literature 38:77–114.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 2001. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Veronica. 2006. The Law Reform Olympics: Measuring the Effects of Law Reform in Transition Economies. In Law Reform in Developing and Transition Economies, ed. Lindsey, Timothy. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Trubek, David M., and Alvaro, Santos, eds. 2006. The New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Winn, Jane Kaufman. 1984. Relational Practices and the Marginalization of Law: Informal Financial Practices of Small Businesses in Taiwan. Law & Society Review 28:193–232.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2004a. Doing Business in 2004: Understanding Regulation. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2004b. World Development Indicators 2004. http://go.worldbank.org/PUQ3D115Q0 (accessed May 16, 2007).Google Scholar
World Bank. 2005. Doing Business in 2005: Removing Obstacles to Growth. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2006a. Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2006b. Doing Business in 2007: How to Reform. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2006c. Doing Business Local Partners. http://www.doingbusiness.org/LocalPartners/ (accessed May 16, 2007).Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007a. Country Policy and Institutional Assessment: Frequently Asked Questions. http://go.worldbank.org/74EDY81YU0 (accessed May 16, 2007).Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007b. Get Full Data. http://www.doingbusiness.org/CustomQuery/ (accessed May 21, 2007).Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007c. Meet the Team. http://www.doingbusiness.org/MeetTeam/ (accessed May 21, 2007).Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007d. World Bank and USAID Honor Reformers of Business Environment: Zurab Nogaideli, Prime Minister of Georgia, Recognized as Top Reformer of the Year (press release). http://www.reformersclub.org/PressInfo.aspx (accessed May 16, 2007).Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007e. Project Methodology. http://www.doingbusiness.org/MethodologySurveys/default2.aspx (accessed June 5, 2007).Google Scholar