Instructors
Thomas C. Heller - Stanford University
Erik Jensen - Stanford University

This seminar will investigate the connections between law, legal institutions and growth in India against the backdrop of vast disparities in growth among Indian states. Growth in India is geographically concentrated in a relatively small number of states, and it is sectorally concentrated in high skill and service related industries. Does the variation in growth across states and sectors of the Indian economy illuminate the under-studied connections and disconnections between legal quality and growth?

Through a critical examination of case studies and working papers prepared in conjunction with an on-going research project of the Rule of Law Program, four types of institutions and their role in economic growth will be examined: general courts, specialized courts, general bureaucracy, and specialized regulatory authorities which are either independent agencies or embedded in bureaucracy. The seminar will pay particular attention to five key sectors: intellectual property, information technology and services outsourcing; labor entry and exit; capital markets and bankruptcy; business development, and infrastructure development.

After reviewing relevant general literature on law and development, the course will introduce, among other topics, Indian development and state disparities, the structure and consequences of Indian federalism, and the organization and inefficiencies of the Indian legal system. The course will then turn to specific challenges in conducting empirical research on legal systems such as developing robust proxies for legal quality. Finally, the seminar will critically assess working papers produced for a project of the Rule of Law Program covering the five sectors mentioned above.

Level
Graduate

Units
2.5