Using a large panel of Ecuadorian firms, this paper analyzes the role of capital market imperfections for investment decisions, and investigates whether the financial reforms introduced in the 80’s have succeeded in relaxing financial constraints. The model allows both for an increase cost of...

Using firm level panel data from twelve developing countries we explore if financial liberalization improves the efficiency with which investment funds are allocated. A summary index of the efficiency of investment allocation that measures whether investment funds are going to firms with a...

Has financial liberalization improved the efficiency with which investment funds are allocated to competing uses? In this paper, we address this question, using firm level panel data from twelve developing countries. The basic idea is to investigate whether financial liberalization has increased...

Using a large set of panel data for Ecuadorian firms, the authors analyze the role of capital market imperfections in investment decisions and investigate whether the financial reforms introduced in the 1980s in Ecuador succeeded in relaxing financial constraints. To facilitate capital...

The authors discuss two effects of financial liberalization, using panel data for Ecuadorian firms. After describing the main thrust of the reforms and the general macroeconomic developments, they document the changes that occurred in the firms'financial structure and in the allocation of...

This paper presents evidence on the speed of evolution (or lack thereof) of a wide range of values and beliefs of different generations of European immigrants to the US. The main result is that persistence differs greatly across cultural attitudes. Some, for instance deep personal religious...

We prove that the change in welfare of a representative consumer is summarized by the current and expected future values of the standard Solow productivity residual. The equivalence holds if the representative household maximizes utility while taking prices parametrically. This result justifies...

The objective of this paper is to investigate if and how capital adjustment departs from the smooth pattern implied by standard model based on convex adjustment costs. Using Norwegian micro data, we start by documenting various aspects of the distribution of investment rates. We then present two...

This paper evaluates the effects of fiscal policy on investment using a panel of OECD countries. In particular, we investigate how different types of fiscal policy affect profits and , as a result, investment. We find a sizable negative effect of public spending -- and in particular of its...

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that integrates inventory and labor decisions. We extend a model of inventory behavior to include a detailed specification of the role of labor input in the production process and of the costs associated with it. In particular, we distinguish...