[...]One important theme, common to both views, is thatinvestment is a fundamental part of the growth process.Investment, moreover, may be defined broadly to include anyexpenditure that provides productive payoffs in the future;therefore, measures of human capital and research anddevelopment...

This paper develops a sequential learning estimator of production functions and productivitydynamics for unbalanced establishment panels. Extending an idea from the literatureon dynamic industry models, establishments are uncertain about their own idiosyncraticproductivities and update...

We develop a stylized model of economic growth with bubbles. In this model, financial frictions leadto equilibrium dispersion in the rates of return to investment. During bubbly episodes, unproductiveinvestors demand bubbles while productive investors supply them. Because of this, bubbly...

Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are commonworldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. Weexploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to supportmanufacturing jobs...

This paper proposes a theory for the gradual evolution of knowledge diffusion and growth over the very long run. A feedback mechanism between capital accumulation and the ease of knowledge diffusion explains a long epoch of (quasi-) stasis and an epoch of high growth linked by a gradual economic...

Following a brief review of the theoretical literature on the benefits and shortcomings of fiscal decentralization this paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between per capita economic growth and its production function determinants, on the one hand, and constructed...

Twenty years have passed since Freeman and Medoff's What Do Unions Do? This essay assesses their analysis of how unions in the U.S. private sector affect economic performance - productivity, profitability, investment, and growth. Freeman and Medoff are clearly correct that union productivity...

Das Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (IAB) führt seit 1996 jährlich eine Arbeitgeberbefragung in ostdeutschen Betrieben durch (IAB-Betriebspanel Ost). Im Sommer 2003 fand diese Befragung zum achten Mal statt, um aktuelle repräsentative Daten über...

Das Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (IAB) führt seit 1996 jährlich eine Arbeitgeberbefragung in ostdeutschen Betrieben durch (IAB-Betriebspanel Ost). Im Sommer 2003 fand diese Befragung zum achten Mal statt, um aktuelle repräsentative Daten über...