Property Rights and Economic Growth: An Empirical Study

This paper analyzes empirically the relationship between the structure of property rights and economic growth. Two aspects of property rights are taken into consideration: the degree to which property is state owned and the presence of arbitrary seizure of property. The variable measuring state ownership of property is negatively, although insignificantly, related to growth. However, the partial correlation between growth and arbitrary seizure of property is negative and significant. This correlation is robust to changes in the selected control variables.