We analyze the role of risk-sharing institutions in transitions to modern economies. Transitions requires individual …-level, idiosyncratic risk implies that distinct risk-sharing institutions - even those providing the same level of insurance - can lead to … different growth trajectories if they differently motivate risk-taking. Historically, risk sharing institutions were selected …

decline on demographic and economic growth by a family-optimization model, in which fertility is endogenous and wealth yields …

Although social institutions permeate the world in which we live, they are all but absent from our analyses of economic … institutions for growth and development …

We propose a unified growth theory to investigate the mechanics generating the economic and demographic transition, and …

artifact. Some analysts assert that in less developed countries happiness and economic growth are positively related "up to …

Women's rights and economic development are highly correlated. Today, the discrepancy between the legal rights of women … women had few rights before economic development took off. Is development the cause of expanding women's rights, or … economic consequences of women's rights documents that more rights for women lead to more spending on health and children …

In this paper we investigate the causal effect of life expectancy on economic growth by explicitly accounting for the … the role of the econometric specification. We present a simple theory of the economic and demographic transition where …

trust on economic development relative to other traditional candidates, such as institutions and geography, by controlling …In this paper we develop a new empirical approach to uncovering the impact of social attitudes on economic development … for country fixed effects. We find that inherited trust has explained a substantial share of economic development on a …