The importance of the law matters thesis

Abstract

The ‘law matters’ thesis is undisputed, keenly preserved and persuasively argued in the legal literature. For something to matter, relevance or importance depends on the audience - the readers or users of that material. This research critically examines the law matters thesis, considering to whom it matters and why. This research also critiques the law matters thesis from a perspective largely beyond the mainstream law journals and yields perspectives often overlooked in the law literature. ‘Law matters’ advocates argue that the existence of strong investor protection results in observed economic growth and development of capital markets. While one might conclude there is a strong correlation between legal culture and financial capital market development in legal research, non-legal research provides counter-evidence that legal culture alone does not determine financial market growth in East Asia