In this paper we provide a strategic explanation for the spontaneous convergence of legal rules that nevertheless, in many instances, falls short of unification across jurisdictions. We identify a free-riding problem and discuss its implications for legal integration. We argue that countries hesitate to adapt their laws to those of another jurisdiction because they hope to free ride on efforts toward convergence. Unification (by transplant) and harmonization (by convention) of legal rules emerge as obvious corrective interventions to a coordination failure, thus solving the free-riding problem. However, unification and harmonization could also be serious policy mistakes either because convergence is absent owing to very high costs of importing and adjustment or owing to agency costs.
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Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer & Juan Botero, 2003.
"The Regulation of Labor,"
NBER Working Papers
9756, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Djankov, Simeon & Glaeser, Edward & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2003.
"The new comparative economics,"
Journal of Comparative Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 595-619, December.
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Simeon Djankov & Edward L. Glaeser & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer, 2003.
"The New Comparative Economics,"
NBER Working Papers
9608, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2002.
"Law, Endowment, and Finance,"
NBER Working Papers
9089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Edward L. Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2002.
"Legal Origins,"
The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
MIT Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1193-1229, November.
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Edward L. Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2001.
"Legal Origins,"
NBER Working Papers
8272, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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