Legal Reforms And Economic Performance: Revisiting The Evidence

This paper investigates whether legal reforms intended to create a market-friendly regulatory business environment have a positive impact on economic and financial outcomes. After conducting a critical review of the legal origins literature, we first analyze the evolution of legal rules and regulations during the last decade (2006-2014). For that purpose, we use legal/regulatory indicators from the Doing Business Project (World Bank). Our findings indicate that countries have actively reformed their legal systems during this period, particularly French civil law countries.