The effect of unemployment on mortality is the object of a lively literature. However, this literature is characterized by sharply conflicting results. We revisit this issue and suggest that the relationship might be non-linear. We use regional (NUTS 2) data from 23 European countries to...

Some recent developments in the literature on the political economy of economic growth are considered in this paper. First, limitations of traditional cross-sectional analysis are discussed. Attention is focused on the problems of omitted variables and model uncertainty. Advantages and...

This paper provides a comprehensive econometric analysis of some debated issues concerning the political and institutional determinants of fiscal policy outcomes. Several innovative results are obtained. It turns out that a significant effect on fiscal policy formation can be traced back to the...

The availability of appropriate empirical measures to represent political and institutional factors is a crucial issue in the applied political economy research. This paper is intended as a contribution to the collection and circulation of political data. Having been involved for quite a...

The empirical distinction between de facto and de jure exchange rate regimes raises a number of interesting questions. Which factors may induce a de facto peg? Why do countries enforce a peg but do not announce it? Why do countries \break their promises"? We show that a stable socio-political...

In this paper we estimate a model where in°ation, a measure of de facto central bank independence and an index of de facto exchange rate regime are simultaneously determined by a set of economic, political and institutional variables. De facto central bank independence is hampered by...

We study whether financial openness facilitates the economic integration of formerly centrally planned economies with the EU-15. Two dimensions of economic integration are considered: cross-country convergence of per-capita incomes and bilateral trade in goods and services. We find that more...

COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) aims at the establishment of a currency union in 2025. To this purpose, a policy harmonization program and a set of convergence criteria have been set up. A number of projects to foster trade, economic and financial integration have also...

We revisit the empirical relationship between output volatility and government expenditure in a model where the two are jointly deter- mined. The key regressors in our model are trade and ¯nancial integra- tion indicators, institutional variables, including central bank indepen- dence, and a...

Event history analysis is used to investigate the determinants of cabinet duration in a sample of 14 western European parliamentary democracies. A broad set of covariates is considered in order to account for the impact of political, institutional, environmental and economic factors. It turns...