Showing 1 - 10 of 12
We present new data on the regulation of entry of start-up firms in 75 countries. The data set contains information on … official costs of entry are extremely high in most countries. Countries with heavier regulation of entry have higher corruption … limited governments have fewer entry regulations. The evidence is inconsistent with Pigouvian (helping hand) theories of …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012470845
We consider the design and implementation of international trade agreements when: (i) negotiations are undertaken and commitments made in the presence of uncertainty about future political pressures; (ii) governments possess private information about political pressures at the time that the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012467700
We revisit the debate over whether political institutions cause economic growth, or whether, alternatively, growth and human capital accumulation lead to institutional improvement. We find that most indicators of institutional quality used to establish the proposition that institutions cause...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012468125
Motivated by the structure of WTO negotiations, we analyze a bargaining environment in which negotiations proceed bilaterally and sequentially under the most-favored-nation (MFN) principle. We identify backward-stealing and forward-manipulation problems that arise when governments bargain under...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012468273
We describe recent work on the theory of trade agreements that speaks to the purpose and design of GATT. Our discussion proceeds in three steps. First, we examine the purpose of a trade agreement. In both the traditional economic and the political-economy approaches to the study of trade...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012470726
This paper addresses the question of why firms pay dividends, the so-called outline two agency models of dividends. On what we call outcome minority shareholders to force corporate outsiders to disgorge cash. Under this model, stronger minority shareholder rights should be associated with higher...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012472182
This paper surveys research on corporate governance, with special attention to the importance of legal protection of investors and of ownership concentration in corporate governance systems around the world
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012473302
Empirical studies have repeatedly documented the countercyclical nature of trade barriers. In this paper, we propose a simple theoretical framework that is consistent with this and other empirical regularities in the relationship between protection and the business cycle. We examine the ability...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012473711
We present a theory of collusive pricing in markets subject to business cycle fluctuations. In the business cycle model that we adopt, market demand alternates stochastically between fast-growth (boom) and slow-growth (recession) phases. We provide a complete characterization of the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012473833
We examine the relationship between urban characteristics in 1960 and urban growth (income and population) between 1960 and 1990. Our major findings are that income and population growth move together and both types of growth are (1) positively related to initial schooling, (2) negatively...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012473880