Financial crises are costly. In the recent crisis in Argentina, for example, from the onset of sovereign debt repayment difficulties at the end of 2000 until the beginning of 2002, real GDP dropped by almost 20%. A simple aggregate growth accounting exercise suggests that a large part of this...

We use maximum likelihood techniques to distinguish across models of international capital flows using a comprehensive dataset on GDP, capital stocks, consumption, investment, employment, and net exports (used to measure capital flows) for 200 countries between 1950 and 2005. Specifically, we...

This paper analyzes a general equilibrium model with limited commitment and production. There are a large number of infinitely-lived, risk-averse agents who invest in physical and human capital, and production exhibits constant-returns-to-scale with respect to these two input factors....

Political contributions appear to be subject to an obvious public goods problem. Free riding might be expected to lead to polarization of contributions. We show that it is not true in general. In fact, in the most obvious model, with arbitrary number of candidates, we get a median contributor...

Most economic activity occurs in cities. This creates a tension between local increasing returns, implied by the existence of cities, and aggregate constant returns, implied by balanced growth. To address this tension, we develop a theory of economic growth in an urban environment. We show how...

Can the international financial system be reformed to reduce the costs of sovereign defaults? What would the consequences of such ex post reforms be on the ex ante level of sovereign borrowing? This paper presents a simple model in which sovereign debt restructuring negotiations are plagued by...

Since 1989, creditor countries have provided debt relief to developing countries worth more than 100 billion US dollars. Prominent lobby groups are campaigning for a further 400 billion US dollars in debt relief to be provided in the near future. How much could developing country’s gain...