This paper investigates the nature of income inequality across nations. Several exercises, such as variance decompositions, simulations and counter-factual analyses are performed. We find that, although total factor productivity has a leading role in explaining the dispersion of output per...

This paper examines structural changes that occur in the total factor productivity (TFP) within countries. It is possible that some episodes of high economic growth or economic decline are associated with permanent productivity shocks; therefore, this research has two objectives. The first one...

Due to widespread government intervention and import-substitution industrialization, there has been a general perception that Latin America has been much less productive than the leading economies in the last decades. In this paper, however, we show that until the mid-seventies Latin America had...

This article presents a group of exercises of level and growth decomposition of output per worker using cross-country data from 1960 to 2000. Its shown that at least until 1975 factors of production ( capital and education) were the main cause of output dispersion and that productivity variance...

This article studies the impact of longevity and taxation on life-cycle decisions and long run income. Individuals allocate optimally their total lifetime between education, working and retirement. They also decide at each moment how much to save or consume out of their income, and, after...