Undoubtedly, reliable, efficient infrastructure is crucial to economic and social development and the promotion of pro-poor growth. Poor infrastructure impedes a nation’s economic growth and international competitiveness. In fact, it has long been recognised that an adequate supply of...

Despite the modern origins of endogenous growth theory, we argue that the ‘Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim’ written by Immanuel Kant in 1784 provides an early and coherent example of such a theory. Kant’s endogenous growth mechanism is driven by the...

This paper investigates new developments in the pattern of machinery trade, with a focus on the extent and depth of production networks in North America. We pay particular attention to North America's trade links with East Asia, which have intensified in the last two decades. Investigation of...

We examine the behavior of output disparities of Mexican regions relative to the richest region, the Capital, during the period 1940-2009, and the dynamics of the output gap series of the U.S.-Mexico border region. Our estimations suggest that whilst other Mexican regions have been catching up...

We estimate the elasticity of the long-run relationship between energy consumption and GDP for 10 countries in Latin America from 1971 to 2007. We employ Pedroni’s (1999, 2004) panel cointegration test to determine if such a long-run relationship exists. Westerlund’s (2006) cointegration...

Central to recent debates on the “mis-pricing” in the housing market and the proactive policy of central bank is the determination of the “fundamental house price.” This paper builds a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model that produces reduced-form dynamics that are...

In this paper we explore current understandings of the influence of political rights, among historical legacies, on economic development. We construct variables for selected political regimes for 1811-2010. We find significant association between individual rights and economic growth. We argue...

The surge in the German current account surplus in the 2000s is often interpreted as the result of efficiency-enhancing structural reforms, especially in the labor market. However, this interpretation is puzzling because the growth rate of the German economy has been one of the lowest in the...

This paper revisits demographic dividend issues after almost two decades of debate. In 1998, David Bloom and Jeffrey Williamson used a convergence model to estimate the impact of demographic-transition-driven age structure effects and calculated what the literature has come to call the...

We develop a theory of intergenerational transmission of preferences that rationalizes the choice between alternative parenting styles (as set out in Baumrind 1967). Parents maximize an objective function that combines Beckerian altruism and paternalism towards children. They can affect their...