![handle is hein.journals/oxuclwj5 and id is 1 raw text is: Oxford Unirerv; sv Commonttealth Lawyjoutnal
ARTICLES
LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THE SUPPLY OF
PRECEDENTS IN GHANA
FREDERICK OWUSU BOADU*
A INTRODUCTION
The importance of law in economic development has been extensively discussed
in the literature from both theoretical and policy perspectives.1 Most of the
empirical studies have found a positive relationship between law and economic
development.2 Effective institutions are needed to support efforts to reduce
poverty through market reform, constitutionalism, and the rule of law in countries
in sub-Saharan Africa. Law is a component of the institutional apparatus of a
* Professor, Department of Agrictultural Economics, Texas A&1 University College Station, Texas.
All cellent survey of the Leoretical and cmnpitical literalure oi lawv all(] economlic developmenl
may be f1und in E Buscaglia 'Law and Economics of Ievelopmenit' in B Bouckaert an(d G dce Geest
(eds) Engclopedta of aw and Economicc (Edwvard Elgar Publishing Nortlhamnpon 2000). A the policy
and programmatic levels, bilateral and multilateral donor institutions have emphasized law reform
as a s'ategic component of their assistance prograns, eg, the US State Depalnent and US Agency
for International Development identified democratic elections and credible tile of law as core ele-
ments in iheir strategic Plan to advane sustainable de\wlopment and global inteiress: US Stale
Department and USAID Security, Democracy, Pr.sjderi (Shategic Plan) Fiscal leara 2004 2009 (Dept of
Stae/'US.\ID Publication 1 1084 Washington August 211113) 18. The European Coniunity's deel-
opment policy is grounded in part oil 'promotion of human rights, democracy, the rule of law and
good governanc': European Commission 'The Euroican ) Community's Dev1opnent Policy'
(C0M\1(2000212 final 26 April 2000). Also, 'because the World Bank works prmarily witli govern-
inents all(] bcause goVernineis that subscl1ibe to Ihe Rul e fc La act tht'ough law ili(OSt Blnk
projects involve some elements of legal reform. But sometimes the law and legal institutions are
themselvs Ihe object of relorm, not jus( Ihe medium of relorm.' WVorhld Bank 'Legal lnstitutions of
the Market Econioni' \Vorld Bank <http.//wx 1lxworldbank.org/publisector/legal/index.(fin>
(17 Decenber 20013). Arican countries have placed Ihe Rule of Law at Ihe center of the Newt
Partnership for Afric a's Development (NEP l) hmitiatixe: 'at the beglining of the new century and
millennium ... we undertake to work with renewed dletrnination to enfto'c the Rule of 1a; the
equality of all citizens before the law and the liberty of the individual.' NEPAD Declaration on
DemocragY, Political, Economic and Corporate Goeflance \(AHG/235) (XXXVIIH annex 1, 3 Durban I8
June 2002).
2) Berkowitz K Pistor andJF IRichard 'Econouic Developm lent, Legality, and Ithe Transplant Ell'
(2003)117 Eur Economic Rev 165 95 and the literature cited therein.
For all overview of Ihe st s urtuu of eCOIomnlic 1'e(lcinis inl developilg ecoliOlies see ( SutIlSein
'Constitutionalism, Property, Demotracy: Transition il Eastern Europe' (1991) 2 Constiutional
Political Economy 37 I. See also, World Bank Building Intitution for Market (orhl] Developmnenl
Report Washington 20)2. For a general discussion of the role of laxx il the economic development
of Western counries, see 1) North Institutions, Institutional Change and Economnic Perfornance (CUP New
SUMMER 2005](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/oxuclwj5&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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