We consider a representative-agent equilibrium model where the consumer has quasi geometric discounting and cannot commit to future actions. We restrict attention to a parametric class for preferences and technology and solve for time-consistent competitive equilibria globally and explicitly. We...

Recent research has been able to measure two forms of technical change---one (fossil) energy-saving and one saving on capital/labor. The results first show strong evidence for "directed technical change" in the sense that the total resources devoted to saving on the inputs responds endogenously...

We estimate an aggregate production function with constant elasticity of substitution between energy and a capital/labor composite using U.S. data. The implied measure of energy-saving technical change appears to respond strongly to the oil-price shocks in the 1970s and has a negative medium-run...

This paper builds a theory of the distribution of TFP across countries. The theory is based on the hypothesis that TFP improvements in a given country follow a Nelson-Phelps specification: they derive from past investments in the country itself and, through a spillover term, from past...

This paper builds a theory of the shape of the distribution of total-factor productivity (TFP) across countries. The data on productivity suggests vast differences across countries, and arguably even has “twin peaks”. The theory proposed here is consistent with vast differences in long-run...

We investigate the welfare properties of the one-sctor neoclassic growth model with uninsurable idiosyncratic shocks. We focus on the constrained efficiency notion of the general equiibrium literature, and we demonstrate constrained inefficiency for our model. We provide a characterization of...

In this chapter we inspect economic mechanisms through which technological progress shapes the degree of inequality among workers in the labor market. A key focus is on the rise of U.S. wage inequality over the past 30 years. However, we also pay attention to how Europe did not experience...