This paper asks whether increasing productivity in the electricity sector can yield larger long-run GDP gains than suggested by electricity's small share of aggregate economic activity. We answer this question using a dynamic multi-sector model in which electricity is a strong complement to...

We analyze economies with quotas and other quantity-based distortions. We show that any feasible, distorted allocation of resources can be implemented as the competitive equilibrium of an economy with quotas. Unlike economies with wedges, economies with quotas are constrained efficient and thus...

Women's contribution to the economy has been markedly underestimated in predominantly agricultural societies, due to their widespread involvement in unpaid agricultural work. Combining data from the US Census and several early sources, we create a consistent measure of male and female employment...

How should industrial policies be directed to reduce distortions and foster economic development? We study this question in a multi-sector model with technology adoption, where the production of goods and modern technologies features rich network structures. We provide simple formulas for the...

Transformative technologies like generative artificial intelligence promise to accelerate productivity growth across many sectors, but they also present new risks from potential misuse. We develop a multi-sector technology adoption model to study the optimal regulation of transformative...

Over time and across states in the U.S., the number of firms is more closely tied to overall employment than to output per worker. In many models of firm dynamics, trade, and growth with a free entry condition, these facts imply that the costs of creating a new firm increase sharply with...

I show that the nature of the energy resources available to an economy qualitatively determines long-run growth outcomes. A harvested resource such as biomass drags on growth, a mined resource such as coal enables output per capita to hold constant, and both a tapped resource such as oil and a...