The US government has announced an initiative to promote the "rule of law" in the People’s Republic of China. However, though China has also endorsed building the "rule of law" as a goal, the American and Chinese views of what "rule of law" entails differ substantially. In the US government,...

We analyze the determinants of effective legal institutions (legality) using data from 49 countries. We show<p> that the way the law was initially transplanted and received is a more important determinant than the supply<p> of law from a particular legal family. Countries that have developed legal...</p></p>

This paper presents a model in which a high growth economy becomes susceptible to a sudden financial crisis. In the model firms are motivated to over-invest because of government subsidies and then bear the burden of the inefficiencies caused by the government distortion. We assume that the...

The past fifty years have witnessed two simultaneous and accelerating trends: an explosive growth in population and a steep increase in resource depletion and environmental degradation. These trends have fueled the debate on the link between population and environment that began 150 years...

This paper addresses the complex relationship between geography and macroeconomic growth. We investigate the ways in which geography may matter directly for growth, controlling for economic policies and institutions, as well as the effects of geography on policy choices and institutions. We find...

Globalization brings unparalleled challenges and opportunities for global city-regions, both in terms of wealth creation and environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is (1) to analyze the environmental challenges of global city-regions, especially in developing countries, where...

Will the world be able to sustain economic growth indefinitely without running into resource constraints or despoiling the environment beyond repair? What is the relationship between steadily increasing incomes and environmental quality? This paper builds on the author's earlier work (1993), in...

This paper applies the infra-marginal analysis, which is a combination of marginal and total cost-benefit analysis, to a model with both constant returns and increasing returns in production and with exogenous and endogenous comparative advantages. It demonstrates that as transaction conditions...

Governments and aid agencies target transfers to the poor, but audits to deter the rich are costly. This paper analyzes how community information can reduce targeting costs. If each community is given a hard budget constraint, then targeting costs can be substantially reduced by asking...

One of the debates in tropical forest management centers on how to manage these resources for multiple uses. In fact, although the need to account for multiple values in forestry decisions is widely recognized, its implications for forest management are not clear. In particular, how is...