We present theory and evidence to suggest that, in the context of analyzing global poverty, the EKS approach to estimating purchasing power parities yields more appropriate international comparison of real incomes than the Geary-Khamis approach. Our analysis of the 1996 and 2005 International...

The apparent convergence of OECD income levels since 1950 is subjected to rigorous testing that suggests that there has occurred a systematic process of catching up in levels of total factor productivity. An econometric model of relative economic growth exhibits parameter stability over three...

Widely used 'purchasing power parity' comparisons of per capital GDP are not true quantity indexes and are subject to systematic substitution bias. This bias may distort measurement of convergence and divergence. Extending Hal R. Varian's nonparametric construction of a true index gives the set...

Panel data is analyzed on government consumption and C-DP growth in 116 countries, 1950-90. The purported positive impact of government growth on GDP growth is due to simultaneity bias. The negative cross-national correlation between government size and economic growth reflects in part an...