<title>Abstract</title> With its German, French, Italian, and Romansch Cantons, the Helvetic Federation is a small-scale version of the cultural, social, religious, and linguistic heterogeneities found in the European Union (EU). Although it is an interesting case study for observing the effects of...

It is recognized that one of the goals of federal transfers is to provide the states with some financial leverage during recessions. Federal transfers in the United States comprise such components as retirement and disability payments for individuals, other direct payments for individuals or...

<title>Abstract</title> We introduce social capital in an endogenous growth model with physical capital, human capital, and research and development (R&D), and we compare the market with the efficient solutions. As social capital is not tradable in the market and since it favours research networks, it...

<title>Abstract</title> Social capital has recently been introduced in the economic literature as a source of economic growth. In this paper we study the interactions between social and human capital, and their contributions to economic growth in an endogenous growth model. The model indicates an increase in...

We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the exponential discounting and the quasi-hyperbolic discounting cases as particular specifications. Under the suggested framework, the representative agent adopts, at some initial date, an optimal...

In a report from 2008 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development came to the conclusion that Portugal is a country still very much marked by regional asymmetries and in need of better regional governance mechanisms and policies. We propose a regional development index for Portugal...

Sweden and the UK have repeatedly refused to join the European and Monetary Union (EMU). Surprisingly, there is very little work on the welfare consequences of the loss of monetary policy flexibility for these countries. This paper fills this void by providing a framework to evaluate...

Models of economic growth are typically based on the use of one or more stocks of productive assets to create goods for utility-generating consumption. The roles played by man-made capital, natural capital, and human capital have been explored in the literature, and more recently the notion of...

<title>Abstract</title> With its German, French, Italian, and Romansch Cantons, the Helvetic Federation is a small-scale version of the cultural, social, religious, and linguistic heterogeneities found in the European Union (EU). Although it is an interesting case study for observing the effects of...