Constitutional Overperformance – An Empirical Study of De Facto Protection of Rights with No De Jure Equivalents

Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska and Anna Lewczuk ()

No 2019-08, Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

Abstract: In this paper we aim to contribute to the debate on successful enforcement of constitutional rules and its determinants by extending the focus to the phenomenon of constitutional overperformance, which arises when countries that do not include certain de jure rights in their constitutions, nevertheless de facto observe them. Firstly, we provide evidence that constitutional overperformance is a common phenomenon around the globe. Secondly, we identify factors which contribute to it, classifying them into three groups: (1) characteristics of a given country’s constitution (such as its comprehensiveness or age); (2) characteristics of the country itself, pertaining to its institutions (such as its democratization level, degree of judicial independence or legal origins) and socio-economic conditions (e.g. economic development, or presence of political conflict); as well as (3) spatial effects (diffusion of rights protection between neighboring countries). We base the conclusions on an empirical study conducted for a global sample of more than 100 countries.

Keywords: : constitutional overperformance; constitutional enforcement; democracy; spatial regression models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D02 H11 K19 K38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/index.php/download_file/4826/ First version, 2019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Constitutional overperformance: an empirical study of de facto protection of rights with no de jure equivalents (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:war:wpaper:2019-08

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