This paper examines the time path of saving rates between 1970 and 2010 in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico through the lens of the neoclassical growth model.The findings indicate that two factors, the growth rate of TFP and fiscal policy, are able to account for some of the major fluctuations in...

This paper presents a new dataset of capital control restrictions on both inflows and outflows of 10 categories of assets for 100 countries over the period 1995 to 2013. Building on the data in Schindler (2009) and other datasets based on the analysis of the IMF’s Annual Report on Exchange...

In 2011, the publicly held debt-to-GDP ratio in the United States reached 68% and is expected to continue rising. Many proposals to curb the government deficit and the resulting debt are being discussed. In this paper, we use the standard neoclassical growth model to examine the future path of...

In 1978, California passed one of the most significant tax changes initiated by voters in the United States. Proposition 13, stipulated rolling back property assessments for tax purposes to 1975 market value levels, and restricted future property tax increases. In this paper, we study the...

The aging of the populations in the OECD countries has prompted various calls for reforming the existing pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems. Currently, there is renewed discussion in the United States about partial privatization where a fraction of the social security payroll tax would be...

Publicly held debt to GDP ratio in the U.S. is estimated to be 72% in 2011 and is expected to continue rising. Many proposals regarding the ways to curb the government deficit and the resulting debt are being discussed. In this paper we incorporate these different policy proposals in a fully...

Turkish GDP per working age person grows at a rate of 3.85 percent also turns out to be a period when Turkey falls behind its peers significantly. These observations point to two questions: 1. What factors are responsible for the low relative growth in Turkey compared to Greece, Portugal, and...

Our results indicate that despite the large demographics changes that took place, medium term fluctuations in hours worked are hardly impacted by them.

In this paper we consider a general equilibrium model where heterogeneous agents specialize either in legitimate market activities or in criminal activities and majority rule determines the share of income redistributed and the expenditures devoted to the apprehension of criminals. We calibrate...