In this paper we review as well as contribute to the empirical literature on the impact of landreform on agricultural productivity in India. We find that, overall for all states, land-reform legislation had anegative and significant effect on agricultural productivity. However, this hides...

Domestic technical measures such as SPS and TBTs can enhance import demand viainformation disclosure and quality improvement, or hamper foreign export supply via imposingsizeable compliance costs, or both. The traditional gravity equation model estimates the neteffect of these measures on...

Research and Development (R&D) and innovation are crucial features of the seed industry. To supportlarge R&D investments by the private sector, strong intellectual property rights, such as patents, arenecessary. The exclusivity granted by patents naturally creates market power positions and...

We develop a reputation model to study the concurrent use of trademarks and certification for foodproducts with a regional identity, known as geographical indications (GIs). The model extendsShapiro’s (1983) approach to modeling reputation to a situation in which two technologies for...

This paper examines the impact of mass media and information andcommunications technologies (ICT) as knowledge-based infrastructures oneconomic development. The results strongly suggest that both mass me-dia and ICT penetration are negatively associated with corruption. Thisresult holds across...

I argue that progress in understanding economic development (as in other branches of economics)must come from the investigation of mechanisms; the associated empirical analysis can usefully employa wide range of experimental and non-experimental methods. I discuss three different areas of...

Compulsory licensing allows firms in developing countries to produce foreign-owned inventions withoutthe consent of foreign patent owners. This paper uses an exogenous event of compulsory licensingafter World War I under the Trading with the Enemy Act to examine the long run effects of...

We examine associations of mass media and information and communicationstechnologies (ICT) as knowledge-based infrastructures on some economicdevelopment outcomes. We .nd that several mass media and ICT penetration variablesare negatively associated with three development outcomes: corruption,...

This paper develops a monopolistic competition model with heterogeneous firms tostudy the interaction between technology adoption and trade in a world of two countriesfacing different technology adoption costs. It shows that a reduction in the technologyadoption cost in one country increases the...

Iannaccone’s (1991) seminal paper assigns basic market principles to the market for religion. Ina competitive market with high religious diversity the level of overall religiosity should increase. TheSecularization Hypothesis suggests that the establishment of new churches casts doubt on the...