Owing to past structural reforms, Costa Rica has enjoyed robust GDP growth and productivity levels are gradually converging towards the OECD average. However, large GDP per capita and productivity gaps persist. In addition, not everyone has benefited from this growth. Inequality has increased...

Debido a las anteriores reformas estructurales, Costa Rica ha disfrutado de un considerable crecimiento del PIB y los niveles de productividad están convergiendo gradualmente hacia el promedio de los países de la OCDE. Sin embargo, persisten grandes brechas en cuanto al PIB per cápita y a la...

This survey reviews the existing literature, identifying the contribution of agriculture, schooling, and nutrition to economic growth and development over time and across countries. Particular attention is paid to the roles of improvements in agricultural technology and of the human capital of...

The geography of innovation describes the importance of proximity and location to innovative activity. As part of what has been termed the new economic geography, this area of research is less than 20 years old, and is now developed sufficiently so that the discussion can be organized around...

We examine variation in the concentration of inventive activity across 72 of North America's most highly innovative locations. In 12 of these areas, innovation is particularly concentrated in a single, large firm; we refer to such locations as "company towns.'' We find that inventors employed by...

What are the consequences of resource-based regional specialization, when it persists over a long period of time? While much of the literature argues that specialization is beneficial, recent work suggests it may be costly in the long run, due to economic or political reasons. I examine this...

Fifteen years after German reunification, the facts about slow regional convergence have born out the prediction of Barro (1991), except that migration out of East Germany has not slowed down. I document that in particular the 18-29 year old are leaving East Germany, and that the emigration has...

We present a theory of spatial development. Manufacturing and services firms located in a continuous geographic area choose each period how much to innovate. Firms trade subject to transport costs and technology diffuses spatially across locations. The result is a spatial endogenous growth...

Over the past decades great changes have taken place in the economic environment worldwide regarding the foreign direct investment (F.D.I.). However, some of the developing countries have managed to gain more F.D.I. compared to other developing countries via skills acquisition, competition,...

We present a theory of spatial development. A continuum of locations in a geographic area choose each period how much to innovate (if at all) in manufacturing and services. Locations can trade subject to transport costs and technology diffuses spatially across locations. The result is an...