Abstract
This article develops a model for explaining private sector response to law reforms in developing countries. The dependent variable in this model is the demand for law – the extent to which business owners and firm managers engage the formal legal system and attempt to mobilize the law to their advantage when making market decisions. Demand for law is a crucial micro-connection in the causal chain linking law and law reform to market expansion and economic development. The theoretical framework developed here focuses on the interplay between informal and formal social institutions in influencing market decisions made by private sector actors. The article tests hypotheses generated by this framework by analyzing survey data collected from business firms in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The results support the hypothesis that demand for law is shaped by informal market institutions, particularly the informal business networks developed and maintained by firms. The analysis further suggests that these “demand-side” variables matter more than “supply-side” variables identified in the social science literature. These findings have important implications for law reform initiatives in developing countries and suggest avenues for further social science research on the relationship between law and economic development.
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Note
This article is based on Chapter 5 of my unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. They survey research reported here was supported in large part by a grant by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
© 2018 Law and Development Review
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Mapping Law and Development from African Perspectives: An Overview
- Legal Pluralism and Effective Governance for Development in Africa
- The African Union Agenda 2063 and the Imperative of Democratic Governance
- Unpacking Legal Pluralism in Commonwealth Africa – Towards Strengthening Methods for Rule of Law Programming for Development
- Demand for Law in the African Private Sector
- OHADA and the Making of Transnational Commercial Law in Africa
- Corruption in Public Procurement in Lesotho
- Law and Industrial Promotion
- Law and Development: Lessons from South Korea
- Has it Reinvented Iron Law? South Africa’s Social Industrialisation, not Iron Industrialisation
- Law–Finance–Growth Nexus in the Context of Africa
- Inclusive Industrialization: The Interplay Between Investment Incentives and SME Promotion Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Intellectual Property Rights for Development
- The Creative Industry and South African Intellectual Property Law
- Digital Rights Management System and Administration: A Wake-up Call for Nigeria!
- Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in Nigerian Courts
- Poverty and Sustainable Development
- De-Growth and Sustainable Development: Rethinking Human Rights Law and Poverty Alleviation
- Macro Aid: Applying Microcredit’s Group Liability Principle to Foreign Aid
- Law as a Tool for Ensuring Contributions of Small-Scale Women Farmers to Food Security in Nigeria
- Law and Natural Resources
- The Protection and Promotion of a People’s Right to Mineral Resources in Africa: International and Municipal Perspectives
- Justifying Water Rights in Nigeria: Fiction or Achievable Panacea?
- Three Mining Charters and a Draft: How the Politics and Rhetoric of Development in the South African Mining Sector are Keeping Communities in Poverty
- Addressing Human Rights Concerns in the Extractive Resource Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa using the Lens of Article 46 (C) of the Malabo Protocol
- Wildlife Poaching and Rule of Law in Kenya
- Good Governance and Development in Botswana – The Democracy Conundrum
- Book Review
- Yong-Shik Lee: Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Mapping Law and Development from African Perspectives: An Overview
- Legal Pluralism and Effective Governance for Development in Africa
- The African Union Agenda 2063 and the Imperative of Democratic Governance
- Unpacking Legal Pluralism in Commonwealth Africa – Towards Strengthening Methods for Rule of Law Programming for Development
- Demand for Law in the African Private Sector
- OHADA and the Making of Transnational Commercial Law in Africa
- Corruption in Public Procurement in Lesotho
- Law and Industrial Promotion
- Law and Development: Lessons from South Korea
- Has it Reinvented Iron Law? South Africa’s Social Industrialisation, not Iron Industrialisation
- Law–Finance–Growth Nexus in the Context of Africa
- Inclusive Industrialization: The Interplay Between Investment Incentives and SME Promotion Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Intellectual Property Rights for Development
- The Creative Industry and South African Intellectual Property Law
- Digital Rights Management System and Administration: A Wake-up Call for Nigeria!
- Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in Nigerian Courts
- Poverty and Sustainable Development
- De-Growth and Sustainable Development: Rethinking Human Rights Law and Poverty Alleviation
- Macro Aid: Applying Microcredit’s Group Liability Principle to Foreign Aid
- Law as a Tool for Ensuring Contributions of Small-Scale Women Farmers to Food Security in Nigeria
- Law and Natural Resources
- The Protection and Promotion of a People’s Right to Mineral Resources in Africa: International and Municipal Perspectives
- Justifying Water Rights in Nigeria: Fiction or Achievable Panacea?
- Three Mining Charters and a Draft: How the Politics and Rhetoric of Development in the South African Mining Sector are Keeping Communities in Poverty
- Addressing Human Rights Concerns in the Extractive Resource Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa using the Lens of Article 46 (C) of the Malabo Protocol
- Wildlife Poaching and Rule of Law in Kenya
- Good Governance and Development in Botswana – The Democracy Conundrum
- Book Review
- Yong-Shik Lee: Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System