This paper empirically tests the hypothesis that landed elites may block technological change and economic development if they fear that they will lose future political power (Acemoglu and Robinson (2002, 2006, and 2012). It exploits a plausible exogenous change in the distribution of political...

We analyze investment decisions when information is costly, with and without delegation to an agent. We use a rational-inattention model and compare it with a canonical signal-extraction model. We identify three "investment conditions". In "sour" conditions, no information is acquired and no...

To rationalize a substantial income share of labor despite progressive task automation over the centuries, we present a simple model in which demand moves along a vertically differentiated production structure toward goods of increasing sophistication. Automation of more sophisticated goods...

This paper studies a model of the distribution of income under bounded needs. Utility derived from any given good reaches a bliss point at a finite consumption level of that good. On the other hand, introducing new varieties always increases utility. It is assumed that each variety is owned by a...

This paper studies a model of the distribution of income under bounded needs. Utility derived from any given good reaches a bliss point at a finite consumption level of that good. On the other hand, introducing new varieties always increases utility. It is assumed that each variety is owned by a...

It will be shown in this paper that unemployment rate due to technology use in production has an optimum (maximum) at a critical point of technology use. For any technology use lower than this critical level the unemployment rate increases as technology use increases, while the opposite takes...

Technology variations among countries account for a significant part of their income differences. In this paper, a firm's technology choice is embedded in a search theoretic framework for unemployment. More advanced technology is assumed to have a higher setup cost, but it is more productive....

Germany's economic profile gives reason to believe that the country will emerge strengthened from the current economic crisis. Germany boasts the world's highest share of value-added output attributable to (R&D) intensive goods and knowledge intensive services. At the same time, Germany...

Deutschland hat sein Produktionsportfolio in der Periode von 1995 bis 2005 zugunsten forschungsintensiver Güter und wissensintensiver Dienstleistungen verbessert. Nicht zuletzt wegen dieser Spezialisierung sind deutsche Unternehmen auf den internationalen Märkten äußerst erfolgreich. Will...

Das Produktionsprofil seiner Wirtschaft spricht dafür, dass Deutschland gestärkt aus der gegenwärtigen Wirtschaftskrise hervorgehen wird. In keinem anderen Industrieland ist der Anteil der Wertschöpfung, der auf die Produktion forschungsintensiver Güter und wissensintensiver...