Using data for 128 countries we document low (high) elasticities of agricultural output with respect to labor in economies within temperate (tropical/highland) climate zones.  Adopting a standard model of structural change we show that this technology heterogeneity determines the speed of...

This paper tests the efficiency of insurance markets in the Pakistan Punjab by examining how crop choices are affected by the presence of price and yield risk. We estimate reduced-form and structural models of crop choices. Although we cannot reject the hypothesis that village members...

This paper answers two questions: "What impact have natural resources had on the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic so far?" and "What role can natural resource rents play in order to finance the long-run response to HIV/AIDS?"  Using a panel dataset, de Soysa and Gizelis (2013) provided evidence...

An analytical framework predicts that, in response to an exogenous increase in resourcebased government revenue, a benevolent government will partially substitute away from taxing income, increase spending and save. Forty-two years of U.S. state-level data are consistent with this theory....

Monetary policy can play an important role in managing oil discoveries. Ideally governments will use fiscal policy to smooth consumption of oil income. In practice this often does not happen, as governments delay spending until oil revenues are received. This induces changes in the economy, both...

We theoretically and empirically examine the relationship between natural resource revenues and financial development.  In the theoretical part, we present a politico-economic model in which contract enforcement is low and decreasing in resource revenues when political institutions are poor,...

In this paper, I explore the reactions of financial amrket participants to news relating to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), a body that regulates aspects of global diamond production and trade.  I use an event study approach with data on the returns for shares of leading...

The causes of the USA's exceptional economic performance are investigated by comparing American wages and prices with wages and prices in Great Britain, Egypt, and India.  Habakkuk's views on the causes of American industrial pre-eminence are reassessed.  While the USA had abundant natural...

As poor countries deplete their natural resources, for increased consumption to be sustainable some of the revenues should be invested in other public assets.  Further, since such countries typically have acute shortages of public capital, the finance from resource depletion is an opportunity...

This paper evaluates whether immigration can mitigate the Dutch disease effects associated with booms in natural resource sectors.  We derive predicted changes in the size of the non-tradable sector from a small general-equilibrium model a la Obstfeld-Rogoff.  Using data for Canadian...