Consider an economy with a high risk and high return and a low risk and low return asset and risk-averse agents making intertemporal consumption and investment decisions. The agent will choose a savings rate to balance current and future consumptions, and an investment portfolio to balance...

Consider an economy with a high risk and high return and a low risk and low return asset and risk-averse agents making intertemporal consumption and investment decisions. The agent will choose a savings rate to balance current and future consumptions, and an investment portfolio to balance...

A theory is introduced to systematically explain autocracies' diverse experiences with taxation. State power relative to citizens' capacity for violence determines the limit of taxation, the highest tax rate that citizens will tolerate and pay. Rulers can spend resources on coercion to increase...

The conference was held on Dec 14-15, 2015 co-organized by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu. Participants from China, Japan, Korea and the United States discussed the economic future of the major North Pacific countries and the...

Flexible mass production (FMP) is specified in terms of the cost of switching fixed inputs to produce differentiated products. Incorporating this concept into a model of spatial competition, we show that, while the late comers may need FMP technology to enter an established market, for the early...

Two players in the modeled primitive society independently decide whether or not to arm and fight each other for distributive gains. Wealth and technology levels determine the balance of force and whether the society is in Rousseau's Garden of Eden, the Hobbesian war, or an arms race. Wealth and...

A substantial body of literature has documented impressive total factor productivity (TFP) growth in China's state owned enterprises (SOEs) during the period of China's enterprise reform. Such growth rates have been used to support the view that China's reforms of SOEs have been highly...