This paper investigates the relationship between growth and inequality from a demographicpoint of view. In an extended model of the accidental bequest with endogenous fertility, weanalyze the effects of a decrease in the old-age mortality rate on the equilibrium growth rateas well as on the...

The theory of functional equations is used to clarify the relationship between equilibrium distributions of wealth and population parameters such as the distribution of families by size, marriage patterns, tax mechanisms and savings behaviour within a simple model of inheritance.

When health status is an ordered response variable, Allison and Foster (2004)postulate that a distribution Q ?exhibits more inequality than a distribution P ?if Q ?isobtained from P ?via a sequence of median preserving spreads. This paper introduces aparametric family of inequality indices which...

Inequality aversion and risk aversion are widely assumed features of economic models. But a review of the literature revealed that inequlity aversion and risk aversion are treated as separate variables. This paper presents exploratory research designed to separate inequality aversion from risk...

The estimation of the intergenerational correlation of incomes is usually carried out by proxying permanent incomes using suitable indicators of economic status, and by treating the resulting measurement error problem using averaging or instrumenting procedures. Here we take the permanent income...

This paper documents the impact of Argentina's recent economic crises on different aspects of poverty, with a special focus on the economic collapse of 2002. We discuss the methodology of poverty measurement in Argentina and we use a simple rule to compensate for the lack of regional poverty...

When families reform there are implications for the income distribution through a number of economic mechanisms: income sharing, changes in household need, reweighting the distribution. These changes are distinct from those that generate changes in factor income or transfers and may affect...

When firms have different R&D productivities, it may be welfare increasing to differentiate patent lives across inventions. The reason is that the uniform patent life provides excessive incentives to do R&D to the low productivity firms and insufficient incentives to high productivity firms....

We study the determinants of patent suits and their outcomes over the period 1978-1999 by linking detailed information from the U.S. patent office, the federal court system, and industry sources. The probability of being involved in a suit is heterogeneous, being much higher for valuable patents...

This paper explores the sources of uncertainty that cause firms to revise their capital investment plans and the stock market to revise its valuation of those firms. A simple method is developed to decompose the uncertainty governing revisions in investment plans and the stock market rate of...