Institutions of rule of law and inclusive economic development in the African Union

The institutions of the rule of law have emerged as a pivotal determinant of inclusive economic development; however, the extant literature remains predominantly theoretical, with limited empirical substantiation. This study investigates the impact of rule-of-law institutions on inclusive economic development within the African Union. Whereas prior scholarship has largely emphasised the influence of governance on national output, the present study extends the discourse by incorporating inequality-adjusted welfare indicators, thereby transcending conventional growth-centric analyses. A strongly balanced panel dataset was constructed from multiple databases, encompassing 54 African countries over the period 1990-2023. Employing the Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) estimation technique, the findings reveal a statistically significant long-run relationship between rule-of-law institutions and inclusive economic development, controlling for trade, investment, official development assistance, labour force and gross domestic product per capita. The study offers salient policy implications and directions for future inquiry.