We discuss the implications of informality on growth and fiscal policy by considering an informal sector based on low tech firms, in an open economy model of endogenous growth, where labour supply is elastic and increasing returns arise from public spending. We allow for both labour and capital...

How big a boost to long run growth can countries expect from the ICT revolution? I use the results of growth accounting and the insights from a two-sector growth model to answer this question. A two-sector rather than a one-sector model is required because of the very rapid rate at which the...

Since (at least) Ricardo, international trade has been perceived as a positive-sum-gain – any partner involved in the international activity of exchange would be at the end better off, no matter how bad was its previous economic position. The Ricardian principle of comparative advantages...

This paper explores the steady state welfare implications of permanent transfers in a two-country, two-sector overlapping generations model. At the golden rule and with Walrasian stability, we demonstrate that the change in the (static) terms of trade always works in favor of a transfer paradox....

This paper examines the effects of international income transfers on welfare and capital accumulation in a one-sector overlapping generations model. It is shown that a strong form of the transfer paradox-- in which the donor country experiences a welfare gain while the recipient country...

Why do so many African governments consistently impose high tax rates and make little investment in productive public goods when alternative policies could yield greater tax revenues and higher national income? We posit and test an intertemporal political economy model in which the government...

We analyze the impact of obsolescence of economic inventions by incorporating maintenance costsin the endogenous growth model of expanding product varieties. This contrasts with the existingliterature, which ignores maintenance costs and uses the model of quality improvements todescribe...

This paper explores the link between trade structure, trade specialization and per capita incomegrowth. It is argued that industrial upgrading in export specialization patterns has a positive long-rungrowth effect, while the effect of structural change in industrial import patterns is in...

A two country, three sector hybrid model of structural change with distortionary government policies is used to quantify the impact of international trade and trade reform for industrialization. The model features Arming- ton motivated trade in agriculture and industry, and a novel...

There is a widespread consensus that China’s growth paradigm needs a rebalancing away from investment and external demand and towards consumption and domestic demand. This rebalancing process is supposed to be accompanied by the transition towards Renminbi’s full convertibility. In contrast,...