This paper applies Markov chain analysis to examine the empirical dynamics of sectoral specialization in open economies. At issue is here persistence and the hypothesis of hysteresis in national patterns of industrial specialization, often claimed as an implication of strong path dependence in...

A mandatory open-network-provision (ONP) by dominant firms is the appropriate government regulation in the presence of network externalities. For basic telephone services and online services, a permanent ONP regulation seems indispensable, whereas telecommunication networks only require...

The paper compares the pay-as-you-go system and a capital funded system of old age insurance. The capital funded system has a higher rate of return. Pension income can be obtained at lower costs for the individual. This implies efficiency gains in terms of higher savings and reduced distortion...

The paper discusses the impact of high capital mobility for monetary and budget policy as well as for the Provision of public goods, for taxation, for wage policy and trade unions, for distribution policy, and for social security Systems. The mobility of porrfolio capital puts additional...

Rising income inequality is an anglo Saxon problem. For most of the other OECD countries, earnings dispersion is rather persistent. Vertical mobility is to be taken into account. The paper also looks at the relationship of income inequality, growth and employment. It elaborates the point that...

The paper surveys the recent theoretical and empirical literature on the economic determinants of interregional labor migration. In the first part, theoretical approaches are outlined, in the second part, results of several empirical investigations are surveyed. The authors conclude that...