This dissertation reviews the functioning of the intergovernmental fiscal revenue sharing system in Mexico. The gradual centralization of fiscal authority by the federal government since the 1980s has led to a revenue dependency of sub-national governments on the center that is extreme. State...

The thesis shows two possible ways in which intergenerational redistributions associated with a reform from a comprehensive income tax to a direct consumption tax are affected when the standard models studying this phenomenon are extended.The usual models studying the welfare impact of a direct...

This dissertation consists of four chapters. In the first chapter, a review is made of the research on international reserve demand in the last decade. The next three chapters offer alternative models of reserve demand. One motive for why foreign currencies are held by national central banks...

This study is concerned with the effects of capital controls on long-term economic growth. At its conceptual core, the dissertation addresses weaknesses in neoclassical and Keynesian theory, viz. the problems of both market and state coordination, that preclude an adequate analysis of the use of...

Mexico liberalized its banking system in 1989 and 1990 and privatized it from mid-1991 to mid-1992. This study first sets those institutional changes in the context of past Mexican financial development, examining the role of the financial sector in achieving macro balance and demonstrating the...

Food firms can improve their profits by focusing on one or a few specialized activities because of efficiency gains and/or market power benefits. This study documents that profits increase with increasing concentration for firms in food industries whose top-4-concentration ratio is greater than 38%.

This thesis focuses on developing an appropriate target for the funding level of public pension plans. Initially, a two-period model is developed that incorporates the relevant factors in a simple model, examines the comparative statics, and compares the results with actual funding levels. The...

The current financial instability experienced by Latin American countries, with the persistence of high and unstable inflation, was in part the motivation behind this project. Particularly, this work provides theoretical and empirical support to the idea of "non-neutrality" of the financial...