Chile’s Colchagua Valley is both a geographical cluster of wineries and a dynamic learning network of wine-making professionals. A principal-agent problem arises in that the latter knowledge network is frowned upon by owners and top managers. Whereas experts aim at maximising quality, firms...

Crime rates in Latin American cities are generally very high. This possibly makes general equilibrium analyses more appropriate than partial equilibrium ones. But there is also diversity between and within cities. Regardless of whether the role of deterrence or those of poverty and inequality...

Using a model of co-movement between East Asian stockmarkets, we show that the determinants of the Thai share price index changed following an article in The Economist, 24 August 1996. In the absence of other 'news', it may be more realistic to interpret this as a case of self-fulfilling...

This paper applies the concept of optimal obfuscation to fast-growth, high-inequality emergent economies. The obfuscation level depends on the nature of policy, government propaganda or 'spin', and GDP growth. The conditions are identified for a negative impact of economic growth on electoral...

If, as a candidate, I really want to win a seat, I will prefer to run in a favourable district, and with a list partner who maximises my own chances of success (in a 2-seat district). In the 1997 and 2001 Chilean Senate elections, many government candidates chose precisely the opposite. This...