The main purpose of this paper is to present new evidence on the long run relationship between R&D efforts and productivity performance of UK manufacturing industries in the presence of inter-industry and international spillovers of technology. The main dataset used to perform this analysis is a...

The Argentine banking industry has experienced increasing consolidation during the last decade. On the one hand, it can be argued that this has resulted from cost economies, perhaps associated with technical change. But on the other, it can also be argued that increased concentration in this...

In recent years many studies have reported significant empirical associations between fertility and marital dissolution. Whether this is a causal effect or only a correlation is not clear. This issue is explored by using matching methods. First the effect of ''having children'' (binary...

We study the procompetitive effects of trade policies against a foreign oligopoly in a model of vertical product differentiation. We show that a uniform tariff policy like the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause is welfare superior to free trade because of a pure rent-extraction effect. A...

In this paper, we derive then test a theoretical equation, based on rent sharing theories, linking industry wages to openness variables. This relation has three main features: 1/ it can be easily confronted to the data. 2/ it allows for both impacts of import and export variables to be properly...

In this paper we explore the patterns and determinants of the prices or raw material and intermediate inputs in to UK manufacturing using the net (n) and gross (g) price indexes of materials and fuels (PIMF) as indicators. It is shown that (i) the PIMF series exhibit considerable fluctuations...

This paper argues that probability forecasts convey information on the uncertainties that surround macro-economic forecasts in a straightforward manner which is preferable to other alternatives, including the use of confidence intervals. Point and probability forecasts obtained using a small...