The determinants of economic growth and development are hotly debated among economists. Financial crises and failed transition experiments have highlighted the fact that functioning institutions are fundamental to the goal of achieving economic growth. The growth literature has seen an abundance...

Even minute increases in a country's growth rate can result in dramatic changes in living standards over just one generation. - The benefits of growth, however, may not be shared equally. Some may gain less than others, and a fraction of the population may actually be disadvantaged. Recent...

The literature measuring the impact of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) and WTO membership on trade flows has produced remarkably diverse results. Rose''s (2004) seminal paper reports a range of specifications that show no WTO effects, but Subramanian and Wei (2007) contend that he does not...

The hallmark of the recent development and growth literature is a quest to identify institutions that explain a significant portion of the observed differences in living standards across countries. Empirical work in the area focuses almost exclusively on either the global sample or on developing...

Für einzelne Länder ist es von Interesse zu erfahren, ob ihre institutionellen Regelungen diejenigen Eigenschaften aufweisen, mit denen erfahrungsgemäß ein hohes Wachstum des Pro-Kopf-Einkommens erreicht werden kann. Eine solche Einschätzung kann mit dem vom ifo Institut in Zusammenarbeit...

To examine how human capital accumulation influences both economic growth and income inequality, we carefully endogenize the demand and supply of skills. We explicitly introduce the costs and externalities in education, and examine how both relate to learning-by-doing and R&D intensity. In...