This paper examines conditional convergence of OECD countries in gross domestic product (GDP) and health care expenditure (HCE) per capita. It presents estimation of the augmented Solow growth model suggested by Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992) to explain variation in output and expenditure per...

In this paper we investigate whether the European unification has had an impact on the Union's average labor productivity growth. Based on a time series approach we do not find a scale-effect as suggested by new growth theory. However, the data do not reject the hypothesis that the EU growth...

Walter Korpi argues in a previous issue of Challenge (March/April 2000) that Swedish economists’ claim that Sweden’s growth performance has been inferior to that of other industrialized countries is at odds with the facts. Since Sweden has not grown slowly relative to other countries, there...

In this paper we present a unit root test against a nonlinear dynamic heterogenous panel with each cross section modelled as an LSTAR model. All parameters are viewed as cross section specific. We allow for serially correlated residuals over time and heterogenous variance among cross sections....

In this paper we derive a unit root test against a Panel Logistic Smooth Transition Autoregressive (PLSTAR). The analysis is concentrated on the case where the time dimension is fixed and the cross section dimension tends to infinity. Under the null hypothesis of a unit root, we show that the...

This paper suggests a new and more flexible framework for studying the existence of rational bubbles in stock prices. The present value model provides the robust no rational bubbles restriction of a stationary price-dividend ratio. The validity of this restriction has previously been...

In an economy with distortionary taxes on labor, can subsidies on day care, financed by an increase in taxes, raise welfare by encouraging women with small children to work? We show, within a heterogeneous-agent life-cycle framework, that the Ramsey optimal policy consists in equalizing...

This paper demonstrates that increased optimism about future productivity can generate an immediate economic expansion in a neoclassical model with vintage capital and variable capacity utilization. Previous research has documented that standard neoclassical models cannot generate a simultaneous...

In the classical monetary debates, the Banking School held that notes would be equally demand-elastic whether supplied by many or a single issuer. The Free Banking School held that notes would be less demand-elastic if supplied by a single issuer. These assertions have rarely, if ever, been...

This paper explores how international capital movements affected the domestic money supply. This requires that the causality at work in the adjustment process be analyzed. For this purpose, series of central bank reserves, the monetary base, the money supply and the balance of payments were...