Many states are under court-order to reduce local disparities in education spending. While a substantial body of literature suggests that these orders and the resulting school finance equalizations have increased the level and progressivity of state education spending, there is little evidence...

Using a unique dataset that covers 100% of the Brazilian FX retail market, this paper contributes to the microstructure approach to exchange rates in at least four ways. First, we find a strict link between currency flows in the FX market and the Balance of Payments. Second, we develop an...

Labor market rigidities are commonly believed to be a major reason for imposing trade impediments. In this paper, I introduce labor market rigidities (such as influential trade unions and high unemployment benefits), that are prevalent in continental European countries, into the well-known...

This paper investigates changes in cultural consumption patterns for a low-concentration industry: wine and beer. Using data on 38 countries from 1963-2000, there is clear convergence in the consumption of wine relative to beer between 1963 and 2000. Convergence occurs even more quickly within...

This paper argues that the limited ability to help developing countries in a crisis should shift the focus to policies helping in reducing the ex ante probability of crises. Indirectly, such policies would also alleviate the depths of realized crises. Two specific ideas are explored:...

This paper proposes a new method for measuring the degree to which the domestic capital stock is self-financed. The main idea is to use the national accounts to construct a self-financing ratio, indicating what would have been the autarky stock of tangible capital supported by actual past...

We analyze the behavior of world interest rates, focusing on the ramifications of European Monetary Union. Our analysis indicates that nominal US interest rates tend to drive European rates at both the short and long horizons. There is some evidence that US rates are becoming increasingly...

We extend our work (Chinn and Ito, 2002) focusing on the links between capital account liberalization, legal and institutional development, and financial development, especially that in equity markets. In a panel data analysis encompassing 108 countries and twenty years ranging from 1980 to...

This paper seeks to promote further integration of empirical and theoretical discussions of trade and worker adjustment. From my recent studies of the costs of job loss, I develop a set of stylized facts of trade-related job loss, with a focus on worker characteristics and labor market...

This paper provides a comparative assessment of fiscal decentralization in China and India, including the standard components of expenditure and revenue assignments and institutions for intergovernmental transfers, as well as the nature of subnational authorities over general economic activity....