Call for a New Analytical Model for Law and Development

For decades, scholars in law and development have studied interactions and dynamics among institutions, legal rules, and development. However, a comprehensive analytical framework in law and development, one which assesses the impact of law, legal frameworks, and institutions (LFIs) on economic development in key areas, is yet to be developed. This is partly because existing law and development study has focused on the manner in which international aid organizations, such as the World Bank, have provided support in relation to law and development, the agendas that they have pursued, and the issues that have been created, while relatively less attention has been given to the needs of developing countries to develop appropriate legal rules and institutions with due consideration to the local conditions which may not make direct “transplants” workable. To address the need, two preliminary but important tasks must be performed: one is to identify the “key areas” subject to state regulation that are directly relevant to economic development. The other is to develop proper methodology to assess the impact of LFIs on economic development. This article recounts the evolution of law and development studies for the past four decades, examines the necessity and feasibility of developing the Analytical Law and Development Model, or “ADM,” and considers relevant methodology issues. This article serves as a foundational work for the development of the ADM.