In this paper we analyze the distribution of fertility rates across theworld using parametric mixture models. We demonstrate the existence of twinpeaks and the division of the world's countries in two distinct components: ahigh-fertility regime and a low fertility regime. Whereas the signicance...

We examine the long-run relationship between fertility, mortality, and income using panel cointegration techniques and the available data for the last century. Our main result is that mortality changes and growth of income per capita account for a major part of the fertility change...

We examine the long-run relationship between fertility, mortality, and income using panel cointegration techniques and the available data for the last century. Our main result is that mortality changes and growth of income per capita account for a major part of the fertility change...

We examine the long-run relationship between fertility, mortality, and income using panel cointegration techniques and the available data for the last century. Our main result is that mortality changes and growth of income per capita account for a major part of the fertility change...

We investigate to what extent convergence in production levels per worker has beenachieved in Germany since unification. To this end, we model the distributionof GDP per employee across German districts using two-component normal mixtures.While in the first year after unification, the two...

We analyze the cross-national distribution of GDP per capita and its evolutionfrom 1970 to 2003. We argue that peaks are not a suitable measure for distinctgrowth regimes, because the number of peaks is not invariant under strictlymonotonic transformations of the data (e.g. original vs. log...

Randomization has emerged as preferred empirical strategy for researchers in a variety of fieldsover the past years. While the advantages of RCTs in terms of identification are obvious, thestatistical analysis of experimental data is not without challenges. In this paper we focus onmultiple...

This study provides a unied growth theory to correctly predictthe initially negative and subsequently positive relationship between child mortalityand net reproduction observed in industrialized countries over the courseof their demographic transitions. The model captures the intricate...

This paper theoretically investigates how community approval or disapprovalaects school attendance and child labor and how aggregate behavior of thecommunity feeds back towards the formation and persistence of an anti- (or pro-)schooling norm. The proposed community-model continues to take...

This article investigates economic performance when enforceable propertyrights are missing and basic needs matter for consumption. It suggests anew view of the so-called voracity eect according to which windfall gains inproductivity induce behavior that leads to lower economic growth. Takinginto...