We estimate earnings differentials for knowledge of 13 minority languages in Canada's three largest urban areas. We find that conditional on knowledge of a majority language, knowledge of a minority language is associated with lower earnings. However, the negative differential diminishes for...

The concept of a General Purpose Technology, or GPT, is subject to a variety of interpretations. Innovations in communications technology such as the Internet, in particular the ability to transmit large bolumes of data instantly, and at close to zero marginal cost to large populations around...

Pashardes (1991) and Banks, Blundell and Preston (1994) use parametric methods to estimate lifetime equivalence scales. Their approaches put parametric restrictions on the differences in within-period expenditure needs across household types, the intertemporal allocation of expenditure, and the...

The demographic transitions here are associated with: 1) The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture. 2) The industrial revolution. There are puzzles associated with both of these. In the neolithic transition to agriculture, humans became less well-fed, smaller, more prone to disease and...

This paper develops an expected profit maximizing framework for characterizing the default risk associated with international lending during the early and mid-1980's. We identify the risk of default as associated with arrears in payments rather than rescheduling of principal or interest.