In this paper we analyse the driving forces of the transition from plan to market in China. A two segments and two sectors model is constructed to take into account the particular economic situation in China during the transition process: a large agricultural sector and an industrial sector; a...

It is sometimes argued that political competition yields benefits to the citizens just as competition in economic markets yields benefits to consumers. We consider the economic costs and benefits of political competition and find that the story is somewhat more complicated. We first review the...

The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of economic well-being. We provide a methodology to compute well-being by aggregating different socio-economic dimensions with factor analysis technique. We also estimate quality of good governance (using latent variable approach) and a...

Views of the future China vary widely. While some believe that the collapse of China is inevitable, others see the emergence of a new superpower that increasingly poses a threat to the U.S. This paper examines the economic growth prospects of China over the next two decades. Extrapolating past...

This essay will consider the relevance of the social sciences - especially economics - to the foundations of sustainable development. Looming environmental crises have served as a prime motivating force for reevaluating fundamental principles. In particular, the concept of sustainability,...

This study examines the relationship between rising manufacturing employment and school enrollment in Indonesia from 1985 to 1995, a time of rapid industrialization. In comparison with cross- national studies, this study has a larger sample size of regions, defines data more consistently, and...

The windfall acquisition of precious metals from American mines and the military revolution of the Early Modern age allowed the Spanish monarchs to command large amounts of credit andpursue an expansive imperial policy unlike that of any other Early Modern nation; when the costof the Empire...

Compared to many cross-country studies on the determinants of growth rate, time series approaches are relatively few and limited in scope. However, time series studies are useful for country-specific policies. But in many recent works ad hoc specifications have been used to analyze the...

In this discussion draft, linking research findings with concrete operational challenges, we review key issues in worldwide governance, and present recent empirical evidence. Focusing on defining and unbundling key governance components, such as rule of law, voice and accountability, corruption...

This paper provides a step-by-step hands on introduction to the techniques used in setting up and solving moral hazard problems with lotteries using Matlab. It uses a linear programming approach due to its relative simplicity and the high reliability of the available optimization algorithms.