The discovery of the principle of comparative advantage was a complex process involving two generations of economists. This paper examines the contributions of Torrens, Ricardo, James Mill and John Stuart Mill. It argues that James Mill's Elements (1821) and not Ricardo's principles (1817) is...

Jovanovic and Nyarko (1996) showed that when agents learn-by-doing and are myopic, less advanced agents may adopt new technologies while more advanced firms stick with the old technology since the new technology takes time to learn. In this case, the less advanced agents might eventually...

This paper exploers the causes of economic disparities across countries in a vintage-capital model that endogenizes education and technology adoption decisions. The implications of differences in the costs of adopting new technologies and in the quality of schools for differences in income per...

In the process of China's foreign exchange reform, the so-called swap market was a key element. Despite the problems it caused, notably those associated with a dual exchange rate, the paper argues that the swap market proved to be a useful transition mechanism for China's foreign exchange...

We consider environmental policy in a federal system where states face purely domestic environmental problems. It is normally argued that in this context, environmental policy is best set at the state level, perhaps because of better local information. To provide a rationale for federal...

In order to examine the optimum currency area case for EMU, we estimate structural VARs in output, the real exchange rate and prices for 14 EU countries and a small control sample. Using quarterly data since the end of bretton Woods, we find that (1) the data are strongly correlated for the...

Market-based structural adjustment programes have been much critised as a blueprint for economic and human development. In Uganda, the first phase of the Economic Recovery Programme (launched in 1987) has brought progress, in that macroeconomic stability and rapid economic growth have been...

This chapter reviews the literature on payment schemes for government purchases of health services. It focuses on four themes: (1) the tension between obtaining appropriate quality of services and keeping the cost of those services at an acceptable level; (2) the role of cost sharing by the...

Concerns have been expressed that in a global market place with mobile capital, national governments will have incentives to set weak environmental policies ("environmental dumping") to protect the international competitiveness of their domestic firms and that these incentives are particularly...

This paper investigates the implications of an exogenous decline in mortality rates for capital accumulation and fertility in a neoclassical economy with dynastic preferences. The analysis shows that drops in mortality can explain the transition from a regime with high levels of fertility and...