It is well known that delegating the play of a game to an agent via incentive contracts may serve as a commitment device and hence provide a strategic advantage. Previous literature has shown that any Nash equilibrium outcome of an extensive-form principals-only game can be supported as a...

The literature on the institutions-FDI nexus has treated the influence of institutions independently of each other. This implies they are not related to one another both theoretically and empirically, an important shortcoming. To address this shortcoming empirically, we use Principal Component...

Our study focuses on the labor market implications of vocational and technical education in the MENA region, analyzing the case of Egypt and Morocco. We try to assess the validity of those vocational systems by looking at the determinants of schooling choice and the effect of segregation between...

This study attempts to shed light on the gendered aspect of MSEs (i.e. how the sectors of activities, income, growth, etc. differ by the gender of the entrepreneur) and tests some of the main claims of the rather modest available literature by means of an econometric analysis. The empirical work...

This paper analyzes how effective macroeconomic policy actions are in ending recessions. We also investigate which structural factors help the country to get out of recessions, in other words experience shorter recessions. We implement survival regression analysis and conclude that expansionary...

As a result of the current global financial crisis, in 2009 the world economy is likely to experience the largest contraction since World War II and the unemployment rate to reach historical highs in many countries. The fact that the current global crisis is originated from the U.S. and followed...

Financial development, which involves the establishment and expansion of institutions, instruments and markets, plays an important role in economic growth given that they can ameliorate information and transaction costs, facilitate a more efficient mobilization of savings, spread risk and...

In the context of stock markets, the financial economics literature has developed the concept of “operational efficiency” which is known to be essential in performing their economic role. Operationally efficient (liquid) markets allow investors to get their orders executed quickly and as...

I present a model in which the players of a game have the option to delegate parts of their strategies to a third party who has an interest in the outcome of the game. I analyze whether the game with delegation to a common agent improves over the equilibrium of the original game. This paper...