Property rights and economic growth: evidence from a natural experiment

Liam Brunt

No 20/2011, Discussion Paper Series in Economics from Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

Abstract: In 1795 the British took control of the Cape colony (South Africa) from the Dutch; and in 1843 they exogenously changed the legal basis of landholding, giving more secure property rights to landholders. Since endowments and other factors were held constant, these changes offer clean tests of the effects on economic growth of colonial identity and secure property rights. The effects of both changes were immediate, positive and large. Other legal and institutional changes, such as the move to a common law system in 1827, had no such effects on economic growth.

Keywords: Economic growth; legal origins; property rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N47 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2011-12-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-fdg
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Working Paper: Property Rights and Economic Growth: Evidence from a Natural Experiment (2007)
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