Legal universalism: Persistent objections

This essay addresses the question of whether there is any set of legal institutions that invariably promotes development. 'Universalistic' arguments answer this question in the affirmative. The essay begins by rehearsing classic objections to legal universalism. It then shows how those objections apply to even relatively sophisticated examples of legal universalism that can be derived from the Legal Origins school of thought, the Doing Business project, and advocacy of greater reliance on randomized controlled trials.