In this paper, we use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to estimate the effect of exporting on efficiency. Estimating simultaneously a production function and an export regression that control for unobserved firm effects, we find both significant...

This paper investigates the role of ethnicity and networks in domestic agricultural trade in Africa. Using a theoretical model of self-disciplining markets, we begin by demonstrating that statistical discrimination and networks can generate similar patterns of ethnic concentration. We then test...

The size of the informal sector is commonly associated with low per capita GDP and a poor business environment.  Recent episodes of reform and growth in several African countries appear to contradict this pattern.  From the mid 1980's onward, Ghana underwent dramatic liberalization and...

Donors who try to impose policy conditionality on countries receiving their aid commonly face confflicting incentives between using aid to induce income-increasing reforms and using aid to assist low-income countries: this confflict can lead to a time-consistency problem. This paper o¤ers a...

This paper characterises the dynamic behaviour of a growing economy where individuals `keep up with the Joneses` and face uninsurable labour income risk. Idiosyncratic uncertainty about future labour income reduces the marginal propensity to consume out of financial wealth and raises the...

In this paper we study the detailed distributional properties of integrated non-Gaussian OU (intOU) processes. Both exact and approximate results are given. We emphasise the study of the tail behaviour of the intOU process. Our results have many potential applications in financial economics, for...

We present an empirical analysis of the effects of labour market institutions on the employment dynamics over the cycle. In the first part of the paper a theoretical framework is provided with particular emphasis on working time regulations. The conclusions of the theory are tested in the second...

Although it is well known that trust is an important component of the fulfilment of incomplete contracts, less is known regarding how robust it is to past experiences.

The evidence that earnings rise with firm size and that human capital affects earnings based on labour market data are two of the most robust empirical findings in economics. In contrast the evidence for scale economies in firm data is very weak. The limited direct evidence of human capital on...

This paper proposes a joint model of tobacco consumption and mortality over the life-cycle. The decision to smoke is a trade off between current utility derived from smoking and a mortality risk increasing with age. Individuals with a longer potential life expectancy have more incentive to cut...