Legal institutions and economic growth: A meta-analytic perspective

This study undertakes a meta-analysis of the relationship between legal institutions and economic growth based on 1,064 estimates extracted from 119 studies. The results show that legal institutions have a statistically significant and economically meaningful positive effect on growth. Although meta-synthesis and publication selection bias tests suggest differences across legal domains, these differences are not robust once study characteristics are controlled for. In fact, meta-regression analysis indicates that the apparent variation across legal variables is largely driven by differences in research design and data conditions rather than intrinsic domain-specific effects. Our findings overall suggest that legal institutions promote economic growth, but that their domain-specific effects are less distinct than previously assumed.