People have used steel since ancient times, after blacksmiths discovered that iron became harder and stronger after being placed in charcoal furnaces. Today, steel is present in virtually every aspect of people's lives, from homes and hospitals to roads and other infrastructure that provide the...

"This paper brings together the literatures on the political economy of public expenditures and the determinants of economic growth. Based on a new dataset of rural public expenditures in a panel of Latin American economies, the econometric evidence suggests that non-social subsidies reduce...