The paper explains the large differences in cross-country productivity performance by modeling and testing the effects of social barriers to communication on productivity and capital accumulation. In an optimal growth model, social barriers to communication that impede the formation of knowledge...

This paper constructs a simple optimal monetary growth model in which an endogenous and variable rate of time preference provides a rational foundation for a Tobin-effect in a system where otherwise strong neoclassical assumptions (e.g., perfect foresight, an infinite planning horizon, and...

Uzawa (1968) first introduced a simple and appealing method for reducing problems with variable rates of time preference to single-state systems by transforming the time scale from t to Δ, a utility discount factor. Thistransformation has been used extensively, particularly in models of...