Does financial development result in capital being reallocated more rapidly to industries where it is most productive? We argue that if this was the case, financially developed countries should see faster growth in industries with investment opportunities due to global demand and productivity...

This paper presents empirical support for the existence of wealth effects in the contribution of financial intermediation to economic growth, and offers a theoretical explanation for these effects. Using GMM dynamic panel data techniques applied to study the growth-promoting effects of financial...

We develop a stylized model of economic growth with bubbles. In this model, changes in investor sentiment lead to the appearance and collapse of macroeconomic bubbles or pyramid schemes. We show how these bubbles mitigate the effects of financial frictions. During bubbly episodes, unproductive...

Endogenous growth theory suggests that human capital formation plays a significant role for the ‘wealth and poverty of nations.’ In contrast to previous studies which denied the role of human capital as a crucial determinant of for really long-term growth, we confirm its importance....

We study a dynamic economy where credit is limited by insufficient collateral and, as a result, investment and output are too low. In this environment, changes in investor sentiment or market expectations can give rise to credit bubbles, that is, expansions in credit that are backed not by...

We present a tractable stochastic endogenous growth model that explains how social capital influences economic development. In our model, social capital increases citizens' awareness of government activity. Hence, it alleviates the electoral incentives to under- invest in education, whose...

Estimates for the U.S. suggest that at least in some sectors productivity enhancing reallocation is the dominant factor in accounting for producitivity growth. An open question, particularly relevant for developing countries, is whether reallocation is always productivity enhancing. It may be...

The well-known lack of power of unit root tests has often been attributed to the short length of macroeconomic variables and also to DGP’s that depart from the I(1)-I(0) alternatives. This paper shows that by using long spans of annual real GNP and GNP per capita (133 years) high power can be...

We live in a new world economy characterized by financial globalization and historically low interest rates. This paper presents a simple analytical framework that helps us understand how this new world economy works from the perspective of an emerging economy. Financial globalization gives rise...