In recent years, the role of institutions for development has received considerable attention from development researchers, policy makers and practitioners. This paper reviews the evidence on the impact of institutions on growth and other development outcomes. Most of the reviewed studies find a strong positive correlation between the quality and performance of institutions on the one hand and development outcomes on the other. However, due to various methodological approaches and conceptual problems, the evidence on causation is still thin. To address some of the identified weaknesses, the paper proposes an innovative analytical framework that maps out channels of influence between institutions and development outcomes. The developed framework stresses the idea that institutions do not stand alone but are embedded in a local setting influenced by historical trajectories and culture. Studies analysing the impact of institutions on development outcomes need to take into account the ...