different growth trajectories if they differently motivate risk-taking. Historically, risk sharing institutions were selected … based on their cultural and institutional compatibility and not their unforeseen growth implications. We simulate our growth … previous growth-theoretic models to highlight that transitions can transpire even in the absence of exogenous productivity …

We construct an endogenous growth model that includes a cultural variable along the dimension of individualism … innovation in an individualist culture. This cultural effect may offset the negative effects of bad institutions on growth … individualism on growth through innovation. Using genetic data as instruments for culture we provide strong evidence of a causal …

innovative capacity, captured by the density of engineers at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution, are important to …

growth, inequality enhanced the process of development by channeling resources towards individuals whose marginal propensity … to save is higher. In later stages of development, however, as human capital has become a main engine of growth, equality …Conventional wisdom about the relationship between income distribution and economic development has been subjected to …

development until countries reach upper-middle income, and only thereafter falls. This note quantifies the shape of the mobility …

investigate the development of inequality over time before analyzing the question of whether governments can effectively reduce …

In the transition from socialism to capitalism in Eastern Europe life satisfaction has followed the V-shaped pattern of …