In 2000, the average driver in US metropolitan areas endured 27 hours of traffic delays, a rise from 7 hours in 1980. In many other countries, traffic delays are considerably worse than in the United States, and in developing countries urban traffic congestion is increasing with alarming...

Standard models-based exclusively on macro-financial variables-have made little progress in explaining the behavior of exchange rates. In this paper, we introduce a neglected set of 'soft power' factors capturing a country's demographic, institutional, political and social underpinnings to...