Return migrants exhibit a high tendency for self-employment over waged employment. Using cross-sectional data from Pakistan, the paper explores the determinants of this choice. Retirement from the domestic labor market is not a reason for opting for self-employment. The preference for non-farm...

This paper examines the implications of a number of policy changes in the context of a dynamic model of an economy with administered prices. Official prices below the market-clearing level give rise to shortages hoarding, and parallel-market activity. The paper examines the implications for...

In their policy proposals on how best to stimulate economic growth, economists have been increasingly emphasizing free markets. It is, however, possible that free-market-led economic growth can lead to increased income inequity which can further increase poverty. One of the more interesting but...

This paper develops a general equilibrium model to formalize Adam Smith's insight on the relationship between the division of labor, the emergence of money, and economic progress. The model demonstrates that the division of labor is the driving force behind the emergence of money, and the use of...

This paper examines the choice between alternative trade-based approaches to reducing global environmental damage, such as trade-related process standards and tariff-based approaches. Estimates of the effects of alternative policies are presented, using a calibrated global trade model with...

This paper examines jointly the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis of a long-term decline in the relative price of primary commodities and the appropriate framework in which it is tested. A general model is estimated which nests the univariate and bivariate time-series models used in the past...

This paper examines the determinants of industrial real wages in Brazil, making use of panel data on 22 industry sectors with monthly observations for the period 1985-93. The main objective is to test whether industrial wages in Brazil respond to sectoral performance. In line with the evidence...

Motivated by the observation that many countries with an active industrial policy also have a lax competition policy, this paper argues that restricting firm numbers may be a means of rendering industrial policy more effective. A simple model is set up in which a subsidy is desirable to correct...

This paper uses a vector autoregression (VAR) approach to evaluate the effects of public investment on private sector performance in Spain. Empirical results suggest that public investment positively affected private investment, employment, and output at both aggregate and regional levels. The...

This paper uses a locational model of rent-seeking to describe incentives to emigrate. A country is considered in which how a person fares in privileged income redistribution is determined by proximity to a king. Contests for privilege determine whether the more or the less productive in the...