Some cultural goods are consumed socially and are characterized by the same consumption network externalities as languages. Also, producers of new cultural goods in any one country draw on the stock of ideas generated by previous cultural production in all countries. For such goods, costless...

We incorporate demand-side considerations in trade in a systematic but straightforward way. We do so by focusing on the role of inequality in the determination of trade flows and patterns. With non-homothetic preferences, when countries are similar in all respects but asset inequality, we find...

The evolution of income inequality during the course of economic development is investigated. The source of inequality is market luck in obtaining employment in the protected urban 'formal sector'versus employment in the unprotected urban 'informal sector.' It is shown that with development,...

The establishment of a professional government bureaucracy in place of political appointees is an important component of an enabling environment for private enterprise. I show that internal promotion can help to bring to power individuals who highly value (relative to income) imposition of their...

The commonly observed positive relationship between openness and growth is consistent with many theories of economic growth and thus does not provide direct evidence in support of any one of them. Quah and Rauch (1990), however, imply that increased specialization accelerates productivity growth...