The fiscal theory of the price level says that the price level can be made determinate if thegovernment uses fiscal policies such that government liabilities explode unless the price inthe first period is at the “right” level. The policy implications are disturbing, as they callfor rather...

We use variation in oil output among Brazilian municipalities to investigate the effects ofresource windfalls. We find muted effects of oil through market channels: offshore oil has noeffect on municipal non-oil GDP or its composition, while onshore oil has only modest effects onnon-oil GDP...

This paper examines major privately-owned British railway companies before World War I. Quantitative evidence is presented on return on capital employed, total factor productivity growth, cost inefficiency, and speed of passenger services. There were discrepancies in performance across companies...

This paper examines pre-colonial interaction among polities along the Konkan coast, from Surat to Goa, during the long half-century c.1680-1756. Specifically it uses the dynasty of the Angrias, who were deemed pirates by the European powers but were actually an integral part of the Maratha...

Traditional theories of the origins of the welfare state have emphasized the financial weakness of Britain’s largest provider of mutual insurance in the late 19th century, the friendly societies. These theories share common implications with contemporary theories of institutional change...

The size and strength of the Royal Navy experienced a punctuated evolution into the largest and most powerful Navy in the world by 1815.Most historians tend to represent its superiority in conflicts at sea as an indication of several factors that would be conceptualized by economists as...

This paper analyzes whether political outcomes in local democracies are determinedby the preferences of the median -typically poor- agents or whether they reflect thewishes of the wealthy elites. A model shows that when politicians belonging to differentgroups can form coalitions, the wealthy...

Building on earlier work (Barr 2004a), this paper discusses the role of tuition fees in paying for teaching at universities in England, though much of the analysis applies also to the rest of the UK and to OECD countries. There is no discussion of financing research. The paper addresses three...

This paper discusses the problems that arise from interest subsidies in the UK system of student loans; systems in other countries, for example Australia and New Zealand, face similar problems. The topic appears to be narrow and technical, and of significance only to the most nerdy of...

The background to the Report is the public policy debate about the introduction of a Bill of Rights or written constitution that would build on the Human Rights Act (HRA) (1998) and further strengthen human rights protection by codifying new, additional and / or strengthened rights including...