This paper studies a target-based procedure to rank lotteries that is normatively and observationally equivalent to the expected utility model. In view of this equivalence, the traditional utility-based language for decision making may be substituted with an alternative target-based language....

This paper describes a parametric family of utility functions for decision analysis. The parameterization is obtained by embedding the HARA class in a four-parameter representation for the risk aversion function. The resulting utility functions have only four shapes: concave, convex, S-shaped,...

This paper presents a model of an economy in which traders use social capital to reduce transaction costs. A key assumption is that there are two types of social capital: “village” capital relies on personal networks and repeat play to guarantee contracts; “market” capital relies on...

Three dimensions of the performance of firms in Ghana’s manufacturing sector are investigated in this paper: their technology and the importance of technical and allocative efficiency. We show that the diversity of factor choices in not due to a non-homothetic technology. Observable skills are...

This paper examines the economic growth effects of limited availability of higher education in a simple endogenous growth model with overlapping generations. With limited availability, the scarcity of human capital keeps its price high and distributes a larger share of the aggregate output to...

Institutions either promote or constrain economic performance, but which part of institutions does so, and why do economies sharing similar institutions sometimes perform differently? This paper applies a novel model that is capable of separating infrastructural and superstructural effects of...

This paper collects most recent developments in the emerging economic sub-area Economics of Religion. According to secularization thesis, the importance of beliefs and religious activities should weaken as education, scientific knowledge and economic welfare increases. That hypothesis has been...

From 1940 to 1990, a 10 percent increase in a metrpolitan area’s concentration of college-educated residents was associated with a .6 percent increase in subsequent employment growth. Using data on growth in wages and house values, I attempt to distinguish between explanations for this...

In the recent growth literature, the accumulation of human capital and R&D have gained a central role. This study tries to narrow the bridge between the fields of regional convergence theory, economic growth and human capital. Unlike traditional economic growth theories, which tend to focus on...

I estimate a life cycle model of consumption choice with unemployment risk. Employed individuals face the risk of losing their job. Unemployed agents receive job random offers of different quality, which they can accept or reject. Following the loss of a job and during unemployment, an agent’s...