The paper begins with a reexamination of the goals of model evaluation and choice. Desirable properties for an empirical model are stated as situational, a priori, observational and specification consistency principles. If these consistency principles are accepted as a basis for model...

Most developed countries have foreign aid programs that aim to alleviate poverty and foster economic growth in less developed countries, but with very limited success. A large body of evidence indicates that the root of the economic development problem is cross-country differences in the...