This paper analyses how political institutions, wealth distribution and economic activities affect each other during the process of development. A simple general equilibrium model of rent-seeking political elites with two productive sectors (modern and traditional) is presented. Political...

This paper constructs a model where redistribution, determined by a political equilibrium, is in the form of public education. Public education is favourable for growth because it increases the level of human capital and at the same time it tends to produce a more even income distribution. The...

Can stringent labor laws be efficient? Possibly, if they provide firms with a commitment device to not punish short-run failures and thereby incentivize the pursuit of value-maximizing innovative activities. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence that strong labor laws indeed appear to...

This Paper hypothesizes that the demise of the 19th century's European class structure reflects a deliberate transformation of society orchestrated by the Capitalists. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it argues that the demise of this class structure has been in part an outcome of a cooperative...

France's post-war growth has gone through four phases. The strong growth performance of the 1950s was helped by a phenomenon of catch-up on best foreign practices, and by a positive effect of capital rejuvenation. Yet the best performance was to follow and covered a period beginning around 1958...

This paper provides a survey of recent growth models that attempt to explain the cross-country diversity in rates of economic growth. It shows that these models can only generate differences in growth rates in the absence of international capital markets. With free international capital mobility...

Using two unifying models and an empirical exercise, this paper presents and extends the main theories linking income distribution and growth, as well as the relevant empirical evidence. The first model integrates the political-economy and imperfect capital markets theories. It allows for...

We develop a model of growth driven by successive improvements in `General Purpose Technologies' (GPTs), such as the steam engine, electricity, or micro-electronics. Each new generation of GPTs prompts investments in complementary inputs and impacts the economy after enough such compatible...

This paper emphasizes the relevance of classical transition dynamics for trade policy, particularly for developing countries. The empirical evidence from cross-country growth regressions points to important transitional growth effects related to trade policy reforms. The paper employs a simple...