Paper short abstract:

The qualitative analysis in this paper points to a prominent role of the private sector and its collaboration with the government in regulatory making. I also show that the determinants of good regulation are not limited to only one factor, but a wide array of influences and circumstances.

Paper long abstract:

Regulatory quality and its impact on economic development has been subject to much

discussion in the past years. International organizations, policy makers and researchers alike

agree that regulation matters and a well-designed regulatory regime can increase economic

growth. There is less consensus, however, on how to improve regulation and especially

developing countries suffer from serious shortcomings when it comes to their regulatory

framework. Due to methodological and data issues it is difficult to determine the drivers of

regulatory change and general conclusions from cross-country studies are hard to draw.

Therefore I focus on the small island country of Mauritius that has exceptional regulatory

quality, trying to identify the reasons for this high regulatory quality. I argue that the private

sector plays an important role in regulatory making. A qualitative analysis indeed points to a prominent role of the private

sector and its collaboration with the government. The case study also shows that the

determinants of good regulation are not limited to only one factor, but a wide array of

influences and circumstances that make Mauritius the best regulated country in Sub-Sahara

Africa and also put it among the best regulated countries in the world.