In a three-period overlapping generations model, I show that different combinations of preference and technological parameters can lead to different patterns on the joint evolution of human capital and (endogenous) fertility choices. These patterns may include threshold effects and multiple...

We build an overlapping generations model with endogenous fertility choices as well as public and private expenditures on health. We find that the complementary effect of public health services on private health expenditures can provide an additional explanation behind a salient feature of...

We put forward a modern version of the ‘developmental’ view of government-owned banks which shows that the combination of information asymmetries and weak institutions creates scope for such banks to play a growth-promoting role. We present new cross-country evidence consistent with our...

The current paper offers a new explanation on the emergence of threshold effects and multiple equilibria, for which the high (low) income equilibrium is associated with high (low) environmental quality. This new explanation rests on endogenous technological choice in the presence of...

In the current climate of economic crisis, European governments are trying to raise revenue via various means such as fighting tax evasion. This paper evaluates a form of tax evasion in Europe that has so far received little attention. This is the illegitimate wage practice used by legitimate...

This paper studies government funding for scientific research. Funds must be distributed among different research institutions and allocated between basic and applied research. Informational constraints prevent less productive institutions to be given any government funding. In order to...

The algebra of the Kronecker products of matrices is recapitulated using a notation that reveals the tensor structures of the matrices. It is claimed that many of the difficulties that are encountered in working with the algebra can be alleviated by paying close attention to the indices that are...

We explore the role of government in the nexus of finance and trade starting from the earliest days of organised finance in England and then broadening the analysis to 84 countries from 1960 to 2004. For 18th century England, we find that the government expenditures and international trade did...

In a two-period overlapping generations model with production, we consider the damaging impact of environmental degradation on health and, consequently, life expectancy. The government’s involvement on policies of environmental preservation proves crucial for both the economy’s short-term...

The literature on local public (school) finance has shown that the use of local head taxes to finance schools leads to an effcient allocation of households and pupils to districts (Tiebout, 1956; Hamilton, 1975; Calabrese et al., 2009). This paper revises this well established result, using a...