A proposal that the notion of specificity--the idea that factors of production are not interchangeable--can provide a unified framework to analyze and understand a wide variety of macroeconomic phenomena stemming from the transactional environment and microeconomic restructuring.

It is often argued that policies designed to protect the environment may harm economic growth. Moreover, if introduced unilaterally by a given country, they may reduce the competitiveness of domestic firms. These arguments are generally based on the assumption that environmental protection has...

We study a model of endogenous growth where firms invest both in product and process innovations. Product innovations (that open up completely new product lines) satisfy the advanced wants of the rich. Subsequent process innovations (that decrease costs per unit of quality) transform the...