A recent recovery in the United Kingdom comes after a program of austerity measures announced by the incoming coalition government in 2010. Can the recent pick up in economic activity be attributed to this controversial fiscal policy? This paper uses an empirical approach to test the causal...

This paper explores the relationship between inequality and growth in the context of a unified empirical approach suggested by the theoretical model of Galor and Moav (2004). Based on the model’s prediction, we construct a measure of human capital-to-physical capital ratio in order to...

This paper offers a straightforward and descriptive contribution to the recent and busy debate on fiscal discipline made popular by a seminal paper by Reinhart and Rogoff (2010) after policymakers have sought foundation and justification of a policy known as austerity measures following the...

This paper uses a theoretical and empirical approach to examine the long run effects of working hours restrictions on the natural rate of unemployment. We estimate a French NAIRU using the Kalman filter applied to a Phillips curve model with French quarterly data between 1987 and 2009. The...

We examine whether loan dollarization is contagious across countries and, if so, what factors contribute to such spillover effects. We analyze a unique monthly data set of loan dollarization for 23 transition economies. Using a flexible regime-switching model, we simultaneously test for shift...

This paper argues that excessive liberalisation causes financial development to lose its effectiveness in generating economic growth. We investigate the hypothesis through a dynamic panel analysis for 88 countries for the period of 1973 - 2005 using a comprehensive financial development...