We investigate, both theoretically and quantitatively, a previously unexplored link between adult mortality and growth. Our mechanism allocates a central role to individuals as carriers of useful ideas and to personal contact as an important means of passing on the useful ideas to future...

Growth accounting exercises point to aggregate TFP differences as the dominant source of the large cross-country income differences. In this paper, I ask which sectors account for the aggregate TFP gap between rich and poor countries. Data limitations for developing countries have led...

The authors revisit Western Europe's record with labor productivity convergence and tentatively extrapolate its implications for the future path of Eastern Europe. The poorer Western European countries caught up with the richer ones through both higher rates of physical capital accumulation and...