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...

This paper investigates the determinants of vertical integration. We first derive a number of predictions regarding the relationship between technology intensity and vertical integration from a simple model with nancial imperfections andincomplete contracts. Then, we investigate these...

We study whether the effects on registered manufacturing output of dismantling the license raj - a system of central controls regulating entry and production activity in this sector - vary across Indian states with different labor market regulations and different nancial development. To guide...

This paper analyzes the relationship between the diffusion of new technologies and the decentralization of firms. Centralized control relies on the information of the principal, which we equate with publicly available information. Decentralized control, on the other hand, delegates authority to...

This paper offers empirical evidence that real exchange rate volatility can have a significant impact on the long-term rate of productivity growth, but the eect depends critically on a country's level of financial development. For countries with relatively low levels of financial development,...

This paper presents a general equilibrium currency crisis model of the ’thirdgeneration’, in which the possibility of currency crises is driven by the in-terplay between private firms’ credit-constraints and nominal price rigidities.Despite our emphasis on microfoundations, the model remains...

Industrial delicensing which began in 1985 in India marked a discrete break from apast of centrally planned industrial development. Similar liberalization episodes are takingplace across the globe. We develop a simple Schumpeterian growth model to understand how…rms respond to the entry threat...

Advanced market economies are characterized by a continuous process of creativedestruction. Market forces and technological developments play a major role in shaping thisprocess, but institutional and policy settings also influence firms´ decision to enter, to expandif successful and to exit if...

This note investigates the effects of the education level, product market rigidities andemployment protection legislation on growth. It exploits macro-panel data for OECDcountries...