We analyze the role of risk-sharing institutions in transitions to modern economies. Transitions requires individual-level risk-taking in pursuing productivity-enhancing activities including using and developing new knowledge. Individual-level, idiosyncratic risk implies that distinct...

This paper investigates the dynamics of income distribution, private debt, and aggregate demand in the United States in the era before the Great Depression. Based on a post-Keynesian model, I estimate the effects of the wage share and private debt on aggregate demand for private domestic output....