We model growth in dictatorships facing each period an endogenous probaibility of "political catastrophe" that would extinguish the regime's wealth ability. Domestic capital exhibits a bifurcation point determining economic growth or shrinkage. With low initial domestic capital the dictator...

The internet is often anticipated to have disruptive competitive impacts, causing upstart firms to overthrow incumbent market leaders. This paper uses the UK IT consulting industry as a test case to see whether such competitive impacts of the internet might already be occurring. Comparable...

We examine convergence behavior in simple bimatrix games. We classify possible types of simple games, pick interesting examples of each type, and summarize convergence behavior under various information and player matching protocols.

We analyze the Spence education game in experimental markets. We compare a signaling and a screening variant, and we analyze the e¤ect of increasing the number of employers from two to three. In all treatments, there is a strong tendency to separate. More e¢cient workers invest more often and...

This paper uses a model of human capital accumulation, labour market distortions, wordof-mouth communication, and community formation to analyse socio-economic stratification, educational choices and intergenerational social mobility. Workers obtain information about job opportunities from...

Wages in Australia have long been set by government tribunals. Although the system may create microeconomic inefficiency, it also may facilitate incomes policies, such as the 10 percent wage cut in 1931. This paper uses records from early to mid-career employees of the Union Bank of Australia to...

This paper examines the effects of remedial mathematics on performance in university-level economics courses using a natural experiment. We study exam results prior and subsequent to the implementation of a remedial mathematics course that was compulsory for a sub-set of students and unavailable...

We present a detailed, high-frequency data set on the civil conflict in Colombia during the period 1988-2002. We briefly introduce the Colombian case and the methodological issues that hinder data collection in civil wars, before presenting the pattern over time of conflict actions and intensity...

We offer an alternative to the conventional 'exchange of favours' story for participation in environmental VA's. The model has a variety of unconventional implications and whilst the environmental application is topical it could be used to explain pro-social behaviour in settings as diverse as...

Many countries in the developing world, those undergoing transition from planned to market systems and even those in the industrialised west, experience periods in which a substantial proportion of the workforce suffer wage arrears. We examine the implications for estimates of wage relativities...