This paper assess the sources of technological progress that determined GDP and labor productivity growth across a group of leading Pacific economies - Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. - during the period 1980-2006. We consider three alternative sources of technological progress:...

We apply the business cycle methodology proposed by Chari, Kehoe, and McGrattan (2007) to identify the sources of Spanish business fluctuations during two outstanding cyclical episodes: the recession alongside the inception of democracy on 1977, and the recession of 2008. We find that the labor...

This paper uses a combination of structural vector autoregression and bootstrapping techniques to analyze whether the exchange rates of three new EU member statesâCzech Republic, Hungary, and Polandâhave been used as output stabilizers during the period 1995-2005. The question provides a prior...

This paper provides a discussion on the empirical findings surrounding the design of human development, inequality and poverty measures. We focus on the United Nations Development Program approach to those issues, in particular regarding the human development index and the multidimensional...

This paper examines James Steuart’s explanation of the emergence of the exchange economy. An initial hypothesis holds the decisive influence of a plan designed and implemented by merchants. Our proposal evokes the importance, acknowledged by Steuart, of the construction of institutions,...

This work analyses the particular and repeated attempt to introduce the entrepreneur into economic activity through the market for entrepreneurs. We shall examine the few suggestions ? Richard Cantillon, Jean-Baptiste Say, Alfred Marshall and Frank Knight ? that propose it. The analysis of the...

This paper is devoted to the discussion of the measurement of human development and poverty, especially in United Nations Development Program’s global Human Development Reports. We first outline the methodological evolution of different indices over the last two decades, focusing on the...

This paper presents novel evidence regarding the relationship between technological progress, occupational tasks and wage inequality. By applying a counterfactual quantile regression analysis to historic U.S. data, we show that the evolution of wage inequality in the lower echelon of the wage...

Aggregate data reveal that advertising in the U.S. absorbs approximately 2% of GDP and has a well defined pattern over the business cycle, being strongly procyclical and highly volatile. Because the purpose of brand advertising is to foster sales, we ask whether such spending has an appreciable...

We analyze data of a Spanish nationally-representative survey where subjects reported their Willingness To Pay (WTP) for road safety improvements; specifically they hypothetically paid for a reduction of the risk of a road fatality and several injuries. Respondents also reported their current...