What Can the Rule of Law Variable Tell us About Rule of Law Reforms?

2004
Kevin Davis
Michigan Journal of International Law, Vol. 26, Issue 4.

What Can the Rule of Law Variable Tell us About Rule of Law Reforms?
In 2001 per capita income in Haiti was $480, the infant mortality rate was seventy-nine per 1000 live births and the illiteracy rate (age fifteen and over) hovered around fifty percent. By comparison, in the United States, less than two hours flying time away, the per capita in- come was $34,280, the infant mortality rate was seven per 1000 live births, and the illiteracy rate was negligible. Understanding the reasons why these sorts of disparities in important measures of development arise and persist is one of the greatest challenges in all of the social sciences.