This study investigates the short- and long-run impact on population dynamics of the major flood in the Netherlands in 1953. A dynamic difference-in-differences analysis reveals that the flood had an immediate negative impact on population growth, but limited long term effects. In contrast, the...

Following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, the European media emphatically pronounced that billions of euros were wiped from tourism related stocks. This comes at a troublesome time for the tourism industry, in the midst of a global financial crisis, and the unpredictable rise of radical...

Following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, the European media emphatically pronounced that billions of Euros were wiped from tourism related stocks. The theoretical relationship of the industry with such unexpected non-macro incidents received moderate academic coverage. Nevertheless, the...

We evaluate, using a randomized trial, two school-based financial literacy education programs in government-run primary and junior high schools in Ghana. One program integrated financial and social education, whereas the second program only offered financial education. Both programs included a...

We examine economic vulnerability to illness when, as for informal sector workers in Thailand, there is universal coverage for health care but earnings losses are uninsured. Even with comprehensive health care entitlement, severe illness that strikes an initially healthy worker is found to raise...

Little is known about perceptions of medical expenditure risks despite their presumed relevance to health insurance demand. This paper reports on a unique elicitation of subjective probabilities of medical expenditures from rural Ethiopians who are offered the opportunity to purchase health...

In the present paper we address the relationship between the extentof business ownership (self-employment) and economic development. We will focusupon three issues. First, how is the equilibrium rate of business ownershiprelated to the stage of economic development? Second, what is the speed...

To achieve sustainable economic growth in transition countries, it is crucial that enterpriseperformance is improved. However, it is not a priori clear which factors are essential for this. ForRussia, data to investigate the potential determinants of enterprise performance is scarce.Therefore,...

Division of labor models have become a standard analytical tool, along withcompetitive general equilibrium models (Ricardian, HOS, Ricardo-Viner), in public finance, trade, growth, development, and macroeconomics. Yet unlike the earlier models, specialization models lack a canonical...

There has been a revival of interest in the effect of risk on economic growth. We quantify both ex ante and ex post effects of risk using a stochastic version of the Ramsey model. We develop a simulation-based econometric methodology which allows us to estimate the model in the structural form...