%0 Report
%9 Working Paper
%A Melton, James
%D 2010
%F eprints:45
%T Credibly Committing to Property Rights: The Roles of Precedent and the Constitution.
%U http://eprints.imtlucca.it/45/
%X In cross-national studies, scholars typically ignore the moderating effect of credibility on the  relationship between property rights protection and economic growth. However, both theory  and case evidence suggest that credibility is necessary for this relationship to exist. Using panel  data spanning more than 100 countries from 1985-2005, this paper investigates if two credibility  mechanisms - precedent and the constitution - moderate the relationship between property rights  protection and economic growth. The findings suggest that a credible commitment to property  rights protection is a necessary condition for such protection to enhance economic performance.  The implications of these findings are twofold: 1) property rights reforms are unlikely to be  successful in countries that cannot credibly commit to those reforms, and 2) unsuccessful property  rights reforms at present may reduce the likelihood that future reforms will be successful.