Positional behavior is a source of externalities and sets limits to wellbeing. Remedies against this market failure are defended by some authors and rejected by others, while the core of the discussion rests on the benefits and costs of applying economic instruments. One of the issues discussed...

Using the World Income Inequality Database and a static and dynamic panel data analysis, this paper analyses the correlation between income inequality in the OECD countries and economic globalization, measured by trade openness and foreign direct investment, for the period 1995-2007. The static...

We use a panel of 155 countries to assess the links between growth, productivity and government debt. Via growth equations we assess simultaneity, endogeneity, cross-section dependence, nonlinearities, and threshold effects. We find a negative effect of the debt ratio. For the OECD, the higher...

We use EU sovereign bond yield and CDS spreads daily data to carry out an event study analysis on the reaction of government yield spreads before and after announcements from rating agencies (Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch). Our results show: significant responses of government bond yield...

We study a situation in which, owing to the exhaustion of non-renewable energy sources, conventional motor vehicles will turn out of use. We consider two scenarios: recycling or dismantling these motor vehicles. M|G|∞ queue system is used to study the process. Through it, we conclude that if...

According to the smooth adjustment hypothesis (SAH), the labor-market adjustment costs in the form of unemployed resources will be lower if trade expansion is intra-industry rather than inter-industry in nature. This is what we attempt to test empirically using the Brulhart (1994) marginal...

Ambiguous concepts blur analytical and policy prescription clarity. In the literature on Natural Resources it would be difficult to find a concept as misunderstood as commons. This paper clarifies this confusion and establishes an adequate conceptualisation. A typology of property-rights regimes...

This paper surveys the link between imperfect competition and the e¤ects of fiscal policy on output, employment and welfare. We examine static and dynamic models, with and without entry under a variety of assumptions using a common analytical framework. We find that in general there is a robust...

In a global economy, global and universal ethics are a necessity. How can ethics be connected to the economy in an interdependent world? From all the different theories on ethics, which should we choose? Do utilitarianism and the maximization of utility promote the happiness of all or do they...