What do we know about the link between growth and institutions?

The link between economic growth and institutions has been studied for more than ten years. Our goal is to take stock of this literature in order to identify more precise and conscious directions for future research. We first introduce the reference framework and by means of a simple comparative development exercise raise some questions a literature on this field should be able to answer. Being aware of the difficulty of the task, we then organise critically all the contributions so as to explain each result and the different paths undertaken. Finally, we conclude with several issues we believe deserve further attention.