This paper explores the robustness of the Balassa-Samuelson (BS) hypothesis.We analyze a panel of OECD countries from 1970 to 2008 and compare three different datasets on sectoral productivity, including a newly constructed database on total factor productivity. Overall, our DOLS estimation...

In 1953, many poor countries had not yet approached the demographic transition. Accordingly, income generally had a positive impact on fertility in poor countries, while it has a negative impact today. Easterlin´s supply-demand framework offers an explanation for this nonlinearity by...

This article challenges the view that a lack of competition and a high level of regulations are the main causes of Switzerland's high prices. First, we point out a number of stylized facts which are inconsistent with this popular view. Second, we econometrically asses the "competition-regulation...

We sketch a model that shows how skill-biased technological changemay reverse the classic Balassa-Samuelson effect, leading to a negativerelationship between the productivity in the tradable sector andthe real exchange rate. In a small open economy, export goods areproduced with capital,...

We sketch a model that shows how skill-biased technological change may reverse the classic Balassa-Samuelson effect, leading to a negative relationship between productivity in the tradable sector and the real exchange rate. In a small open economy, export goods are produced with high-skilled...

Die Löhne von hoch- und geringqualifizierten Arbeitnehmern divergieren in den meisten Industrieländern seit den siebziger Jahren. Gemeinhin wird dies einer technologischen Entwicklung zugeschrieben, die geringqualifizierte Arbeit durch Kapital und hochqualifizierte Arbeit ersetzt. Der...

We propose an approach to measure the mobility immanent in regular Markov processes. For this purpose, we distinguish between mobility in equilibrium and mobility associated with convergence towards equilibrium. The former aspect is measured as the expectation of a functional, defined on the...

The paper proposes an approach to evaluate hypotheses about transition dynamics when only the distributions at two points in time are observed. Using principles of statistical mechanics, we show how to adjust in the "most probable" way a hypothesis such that it becomes compatible with the...

We propose an approach to measure the mobility immanent in regular Markov processes. For this purpose, we distinguish between mobility in equilibrium and mobility associated with convergence towards equilibrium. The former aspect is measured as the expectation of a functional, defined on the...