This paper aims at estimating the effect of different types of institutions on economic development. To tackle the endogeneity problem that is prevalent, an identification strategy exploiting the heteroskedasticity in the data is used. This also allows to analyze the reverse effect, running from...

The new models of development take into account the influence of social capital in inducing the economic growth. Assuming that trust is one of the main dimensions of the social capital, we demonstrate that it is able to reduce the transaction costs and to lay off large amounts that can be...

The co-existence of the ‘twin’ banking and currency crises in emerging market economies has raised concerns regarding the underlying causes and potential remedies. Literatures suggest that there are at least three major approaches that could be used to explain the phenomenon: the...

This research proposes that the geographical distance from the location of the pre-industrial technological frontier has a non-monotonic and persistent effect on development. While remoteness from this frontier diminished imitation, it fostered the emergence of a culture conducive to innovation...

We study the effects of a labor-intensive health care sector within an R&D-driven growth model with overlapping generations. Health care increases longevity and labor participation/productivity. We examine under which conditions expanding health care enhances growth and welfare. Even if the...

This paper sifts through a variety of competitiveness and business environment indicators to assess the state of reforms in south-eastern Europe (SEE). While common themes emerge, such as corruption, weak tax administration and the lack of availability of skills, there is a clear gap between...

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a project carried out by a research consortium dedicated to understanding the relationship between entrepreneurship and national economic development. Since 1999 GEM reports have been a key source of comparable data across a large variety of countries...

In its first ten years, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has had three main aims: to measure differences in the level of entrepreneurial activity between countries, to uncover factors determining national levels of entrepreneurial activity and to identify policies that would stimulate...

Purpose–In spite of being the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world, China shows limited evidence of considerable FDI benefits on growth (Fan and Hu; Luo; Ran et al.). Motivated by Alfaro et al.'s model, the purpose of this study is to test whether poor...

Investigating how lending programs of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) affect poverty and inequality, we explicitly address model uncertainty. We control for endogenous selection into IMF programs using data on 86 low- and middle income countries for the 1982-2009 period and analyze program...