Estimates of the speed of convergence vary widely and depend on the methodology employed. While cross-sectional regressions typically find slow convergence, time series estimates suggest that incomes converge rapidly. This paper uses panel methods to combine cross-sectional and time series...

Remarks for the Urban Land Institute at the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, November 10, 2009

Remarks at the Rotary Club of Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee, July 20, 2009

Remarks at the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida, September 10, 2009

Remarks at the Georgia Bankers Association's Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, June 15, 2009

Remarks at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga, Tennessee, August 26, 2009

This paper clarifies one of the puzzling results of the economic growth literature: the impact of military expenditure is frequently found to be non-significant or negative, yet most countries spend a large fraction of their GDP on defense and the military. We start by empirical evaluation of...

This paper studies the transitional dynamics in a quality ladder model of endogenous growth in which North-South trade leads to technological diffusion through reverse engineering of intermediate goods. The concept of learning-to-learn is incorporated into both imitative and innovative...

Does a country's (long-term) growth depend upon what happens in countries that are nearby? Such linkages could occur for a variety of reasons, including demand and technology spillovers. We present a series of tests to determine the existence of such relationships and the forms that they might...

Economists are skeptical about the economic benefits of hosting "mega-events" such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup, since such activities have considerable cost and seem to yield few tangible benefits. These doubts are rarely shared by policymakers and the population, who are typically...