In the growth literature that investigates the effect of trade liberalization on productivity, nearly all studies assume that trade policy is determined independently of productivity, hence it is exogenous. I show, both theoretically and empirically, that this assumption is not valid in general....

There has been a proliferation of preferential trade agreements within the last two decades. In this paper I analyze the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on external tariffs under a political economy setup. I extend the Grossman and Helpman (1995) model by determining tariff rates...

We study the public goods problem associated with vaccinations. The externality created by an infection is composed of two parts, the probability of infection and the marginal infections generated if infected. We argue that the key component in a successful vaccination strategy is the second of...

A new two-way map between time domain and numerical magnitudes or values domain (v-dom) provides a new solution to heteroscedasticity. Since sorted logs of squared fitted residuals are monotonic in the v-dom, we obtain a parsimonious fit there. Two theorems prove consistency, asymptotic...

In dollarized financial systems, there exists a currency mismatch risk that could lead to financial crises. Central Banks in such economies have to adjust their foreign currency policies accordingly. This paper estimates the probability of Central Bankers' intervention in the foreign currency...

Although the debate about the effect of wealth on entrepreneurship is now almost two decades old, there is little consensus among researchers about the significance of wealth as a determinant for self-employment. We re-visit the relationship between wealth and entrepreneurship using data from...

In this paper we explore the performance of Experience Weighted Attraction (EWA) in two different auction institutions: First Price Sealed Bid, and Becker-DeGroot-Marschak. Our results suggest that learning has some promise as a possible explanation for previously documented cross-institutional...

The wealth distribution in the U.S. is more unequal than either the income or earnings distribution, a fact current models of saving behavior have difficulty explaining. Using Max Weber's (1905) idea that individuals may have a 'capitalist spirit', I construct and simulate a model where...

A central issue for managers or investors in portfolio management of assets is to select the assets to be included and to predict the value of the portfolio, given a variety of historical and concurrent information regarding each asset in the portfolio. There exist several criteria or models to...