The proponents of decentralization argue that it improves economic growth by increasing government efficiency and accountability. However, the critics argue that decentralization increases regional inequality by increasing the differences in institutional capacities and socio-economic endowments...

The commonly-used satellite images of nighttime lights fail to capture the true brightness of most cities. We show that night lights are a reliable proxy for economic activity at the city level, provided they are first corrected for top-coding. We present a stylized model of urban luminosity and...

This conceptual paper analyses the concept of development that is a process of progressive growth that generates a transition from simple to complex system. In economics, development is a multidimensional process that generates changes in economic, political, social and institutional structures...

Does war have important long-term economic consequences? Existing literature suggests a lack of long-term effects related to the short-term destruction of physical capital and population reduction. Increased ideological and social division as a result of war, on the other hand, may produce...

Participative political institutions in late medieval cities in the German Lands had the potential to impact city size and growth. The study confirms the positive effect on economic outcomes of inclusive political institutions in 282 cities, as found by other studies, but supports a more...

This paper shows new evidence that, counterintuitively, the economic legacy of warfare can be positive. We use geocoded data on historical conflict locations in Europe to construct estimates of local exposure to past warfare. We document a positive and significant relationship between historical...

This paper provides a within-country analysis of the impact of corruption on economic growth using a panel of Italian regions from 1968 to 2011 through a robust measure of corruption. This measure is averaged over five-year periods to reduce short-run fluctuations and probable delayed effects....

We use the classes of systematized ethics in Deirdre McCloskey's "The Bourgeois Virtues" to understand characters in HBO's "The Wire" and the story of "The Wire" to understand the bourgeois ethics of the marketplace. McCloskey argues that the introduction of a new system of bourgeois ethics,...

We present new evidence about the relationship between military conflict and city population growth in Europe from the fall of Charlemagne's empire to the start of the Industrial Revolution. Military conflict was a main feature of European history. We argue that cities were safe harbors from...

Although economic globalization has transformed contemporary conceptions of space, location still matters enormously for both individual entrepreneurs seeking to develop a sustainable business and policy makers looking to foster entrepreneurship within a particular city or region. In making the...