This paper explores the complexities of government financial management in China andexamines the nature of the recent Public Finance Framework reform in that country. Weargue that this Public Finance Framework reform is not just the latest idea in a centrallydominated reform agenda (and a...

In this essay I review Sylvia Nasar’s long awaited new history of economics, Grand Pursuit. Idescribe how the book is an economic history of the period from 1850-1950, withdistinguished economists’ stories inserted in appropriate places. Nasar’s goal is to show howeconomists work, but also...

The robust empirical finding that exporting firms are systematically different from firms thatmerely serve domestic consumers has inspired the development of a new brand of tradetheory, the theory of heterogeneous firms and trade. The establishment of a canonical modeldue to Melitz (2003) has...

U.K. guidelines on the introduction of new regulations require that politicians and civil servants should “think small first” when deciding whether and how to introduce new regulations that affect business. Similar guidelines are currently being adopted across the EU. This paper presents the...

The nature and economic role of legally constituted firms varies between market economiesand changes over time. In particular, the governance of leading firms and how they developdistinctive organisational capabilities vary between institutional regimes and their supportingpolitical-economic...

Immer wieder wird in der wirtschaftspolitischen Debatte behauptet, dass überhöhte Arbeitskosten die entscheidendeWurzel der hohen Arbeitslosigkeit in Deutschland seien. Eine neuere Untersuchung des Institutsder deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) scheint dessen frühere Ergebnisse zu bestätigen, wonach...