While the debate over whether and why convergence between national productivity rates between countries over time has occurred is a lively one, the discussion has largely ignored two issues: the development of a generalized theoretical model of cross-country growth patterns that could explain...

The endogenous innovation research program is one of the most important theoretical agendas in modern growth theory. Progress, however, has been slowed due to an apparent empirical anomaly. In their simplest and most appealing forms the models suggest a scale effect that seems inconsistent with...

Adam Smith's theory of the gains from trade has caused controversy among economic theorists. Throughout much his work Smith argues that markets efficiently allocate resources. Smith's treatment of the gains from trade, however, is considered inconsistent with this system of natural liberty. This...

This note looks at Smith's critiques of bounties (read "subsidies") on exports. Smith's analysis of bounties foreshadowed the basic trade policy framework of distortions and noneconomic objectives. While Smith did not develop the theory of distortions, he captured the logic of the theory of...

In a recent paper, Kemp and Shimomura extend the basic Heckscher-Ohlin model to show that no country has an incentive to hoard its technology. This basic result is not new. It was first shown by William Ellis in 1825. Ellis extended Ricardo's model to obtain the same free trade result. The...

This paper uses the concept of cointegration and a theoretical framework that incorporates transitional dynamics to re-examine the evidence concerning empirical support for 1st generation, semi-endogenous growth, and Schumpeterian growth. The data for the post-war US economy show that the...