The aging population is expected by many to put an end to the high growth rates experienced in the past century. This paper shows that the aging population and the associated educational and innovative expansion induced by the demographic transition will expand the technology frontier in the...

It is a well known fact that economic development and distance to the equator are positively correlated variables in the world today. It is perhaps less well known that as recently as 1500 C.E. it was the other way around. The present paper provides a theory of why the 'latitude gradient'...

This paper compares models used to explain OECD unemployment. The models suggest that the ?natural rate of unemployment? has been driven up mainly by wage push factors. Panel data on twenty-two OECD countries are used to investigate the explanatory power of these models over the past two...

We show that a stronger earnings relationship of unemployment compensation reduces wages and increases employment in an economy in which wages are determined by a trade union that maximises the rent from unionisation. The opposite result applies for a utilitarian union. Using manufacturing and...

Using panel data for 20 OECD countries over the period from 1903 to 1999 we examine the extent to which institutional, political, microeconomic and macroeconomic theories can explain strike activity over time and across countries. The empirical evidence shows that inflation, deflation, income...

Using over half a century of R&D data for India, this paper examines the extent to which India’s recent growth experience can be explained by R&D, international R&D spillovers, catch-up to the technology frontier and financial liberalization. Furthermore, the paper also tests whether any of...