This paper uses Demographic and Health Survey data from six Latin American countries to analyze levels and trends of inequality for two important non-income measures of wellbeing, childrenz s stature and adult womenq s educational attainment. Our purpose is to determine whether the worrying...

This paper investigates productivity growth and technical efficiency in the Greek banking industry for the period 1982-1997. It also compares the 1982-92 and 1993-97 sub-periods, since after 1992 the Greek banking sector experienced substantial changes. The Malmquist productivity index and the...

This paper attempts to explain the sources of real exchange rate fluctuations for a set of advanced economies and Central and Eastern European transition economies. To that end, we first estimate structural (identified) vector autoregression (SVAR) models, and decompose real and nominal exchange...

Based on Cheung, Chinn and García-Pascual (2004) and Meese and Rogoff (1983), the forecasting performance of a wide variety of theoretical and empirical exchange rate models (PPP, UIP, flexible and sticky-price monetary models, portfolio balance, and a BEER model) is tested against the random...

This paper studies the relation between inflation and relative price variability (RPV) in Spain during the 1987-2009 period. We find that this relation presents a U-shape profile, and that the optimal annual inflation rate (defined as the one that minimizes RPV) is around 4%, higher than the 2%...

We develop a comprehensive quantitative account of changing practices in economics in the last 122 years. The analysis uses word detection algorithms to partially characterize prevailing practices. We document a shift toward isolation from other disciplines during most of the twentieth century....

Technological diffusion via FDI is essential for the economic growth of backward economies. However, institutional and policy barriers may slow down technology diffusion. Using a simple theory based on Acemoglu (2009), we predict that inward FDI (pool of available world frontier technologies)...

This paper studies the connection between economic policy and electoral outcomes. In particular, it analyzes the impact of the conflict between the agro-manufacturing sector and the national government on the congressional elections for national deputies in the 134 municipalities of the province...

Using a dynamic optimization model, Ricardian Equivalence (RE) is empirically tested for Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The system of equations obtained in the theoretical model is solved using Generalized Method of Moments and Full Information Maximum Likelihood. Results indicate that the...

In this paper, we study the U.S. aggregate business failures during 1980- 2004 in relation to four macroeconomic variables: aggregate corporate profits, the producer price index, the interest rate, and stock market performance. We argue that aggregate business failures should not be treated as a...