Policy simulations during the last decades have been heavily relying on standard static CGE models with a small number of industries. Recently DSGE models (usually termed as New Keynesian) have been developed that incorporate dynamic behavior and institutional constraints at the aggregate...

An effective tax system is one of the essential factors for successful country development. The first step to understand the performance of public revenue systems is to establish some commonly agreed performance measurement and benchmarking which can be applied across countries. In this regard...

The creation and accumulation of knowledge constitutes without any doubt one of the major drivers of progress and development. The incontrovertible evidence of that creative process is present everywhere in our daily routines and societies. However, it is rather difficult to define a measure of...

COP17 in Durban revealed once again the general willingness to commit to the 2°-target and the difficulty to reach an international Post-Kyoto agreement until 2015. There is strong evidence from model-based analysis that economic costs of reaching the 2°-target will be below global GDP growth...

The influence of government size on per capita GDP growth has attracted much interest from scholars during the past two decades. However, despite all the work conducted, there is no consensus among researchers on the importance of government size in affecting economic growth. Some authors find...

Cross-country differences in output persistence are well documented in the literature. Further, Fatás (2000) finds a strong positive correlation between the persistence of fluctuations and long-term average growth rates for a sample that includes the G7 countries and eight additional OECD...

This paper aims at assessing how domestic urban-rural remittances can mitigate macroeconomic shocks in a developing country. When trade liberalization occurs, it may affect the national income structure and increase regional poverty, especially in a vulnerable economy where the volatility of...

The WIOD database allows for improved empirical analysis on a wide range of important environmental research questions. In this paper we demonstrate the scientific potential of the WIOD database and give answers for very urgent policy questions on the impacts of international trade and...

It is now well accepted in both academic and policy worlds that human capital accumulation plays a significant role in the increase of standards of living in different countries. Education is a primary source of human capital and is a key aspect in public policies to develop human capital. From...

The voucher in education firmly relies on the parent´s ability to choose their child´s school. One factor which may reduce this choice is the presence of switching costs, caused by factors such as the stress that children experience and the loss of social networks. We develop a methodology...