How (Not) to Measure Institutions

Stefan Voigt

No 200937, MAGKS Papers on Economics from Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung)

Abstract: The statement “institutions matter” has become commonplace. A precondition for it to be supported by empirical evidence, is, however, that institutions are measurable. Glaeser et al. (2004) attacks many studies claiming to prove the relevance of institutions for economic development as being based on flawed measures of institutions, or not even on institutions at all. This paper shows that their criticism deserves to be taken seriously, but that it is somewhat overblown. Some of the difficulties in measuring institutions are described and some ways of measuring them are proposed.

Keywords: Institutions; Institutions vs. Policies; Measurement; Formal vs. Informal Institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 H11 K00 O17 O43 O57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2009
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-hpe and nep-pke
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Journal Article: How (Not) to measure institutions (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mar:magkse:200937

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