Several recent studies have examined the tendency of regions within a nation to exhibit long-term convergence in per capita income levels. Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1991, 1992, 1995) have found a tendency towards convergence among the U.S. states, among Japanese prefectures, and among regions...

One of the surprising features of modern economic growth is that economies with abundant natural resources have tended to grow less rapidly than natural-resource-scarce economies. In this paper we show that economies with a high ratio of natural resource exports to GDP in 1971 (the base year)...

Many of the crucial debates in development economics are encapsulated in the question of economic convergence. Is there a tendency for the poorer countries to grow more rapidly than the richer countries, and thereby to converge in living standards? Some recent research on endogenous growth has...

This paper attempts to make the case that a 2-sector model using the familiar traded non-traded distinction offers a reasonably successful empirical account of why Mexico needed to devalue its exchange rate in 1994. This model provides a way to define and measure disequilibrium in the exchange...

Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to the Bolivian economy. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the political economy of macroeconomic policymaking in Bolivia since the 1952 Revolution. Great stress is put on the weakness of fiscal institutions in the face of heavy social and sectoral demands....

Econometric evidence suggests that the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (the NAIRU) has risen sharply in Europe in the past fifteen years. In the first section of this paper, I review the recent proliferation of supply-side models that say interesting things about why the NAIRU...

In 1971, Robert Mundell proposed a stunning solution to the three problems then affecting the U.S. economy: high inflation and unemployment, and a weak currency. Mundell suggested that the policy mix of fiscal expansion and monetary contraction could work to raise output, reduce inflation, and...

The current crisis in international lending points up a lesson re-learned several times in the past 150 years: the international loan markets function very differently from the textbook model of competitive lending. This paper discusses various extensions of the basic model.First, we amend the...

This paper illustrates the role for macroeconomic policy coordination when interdependent economies are pursuing disinflationary policies. Under flexible exchangerates, policy makers have an incentive to reduce inflation by pursuing contractionary policies that yield a currency appreciation. In...

Throughout the industrialized world, macroeconomic performance since the mid-1970s has been very poor, and the prospects in the near term remain bleak. While there is no consensus among macroeconomists regarding the diagnosis (or cure) of these ills, the major competing schools of thought have...