In this paper, we identify initial macroeconomic and financial market conditions that help explain the distinct response of the real economy of a particular country to the recent global financial crisis. Using four measures of crisis severity, we examine a data set with over 90 potential...

This study suggests a two-step approach to identifying and interpreting regional convergence clubs in Europe. The first step calculates Bayesian probabilities for various assignments of regions to two clubs using a general stochastic space-time dynamic panel relationship between growth rates and...

This study suggests a two-step approach to identifying and interpreting regional convergence clubs in Europe. The first step involves identifying the number and composition of clubs using a space-time panel data model for annual income growth rates in conjunction with Bayesian model comparison...

This study suggests a two-step approach to identifying and interpreting regional convergence clubs in Europe. The first step involves identifying the number and composition of clubs using a space-time panel data model for annual income growth rates in conjunction with Bayesian model comparison...

Taking a Bayesian perspective on model uncertainty for static panel data models proposed in the spatial econometrics literature considerably simplifies the task of selecting an appropriate model. A wide variety of alternative specifications that include various combinations spatial dependence in...

The number of variables related to long-run economic growth is large compared with the number of countries. Bayesian model averaging is often used to impose parsimony in the cross-country growth regression. The underlying prior is that many of the considered variables need to be excluded from...

The “middle-income trap” is the phenomenon of hitherto rapidly growing economies stagnating at middle-income levels and failing to graduate into the ranks of high-income countries. In this study we examine the middle-income trap as a special case of growth slowdowns, which are identified as...

This paper examines the dynamic interactions between insurance and economic growth in eight African countries for the period of 1970-2013. Insurance demand is measured by insurance penetration which accounts for income differences across the sample countries. A Bayesian Time Varying Parameter...

One of the key determinants of potential growth are productivity gains. Total factor productivity (TFP) differences are the main determinant of per capita income differences between countries. A key factor to understand TFP is misallocation: the aggregate productivity loss from microeconomic...