This paper decomposes the resource curse and its potential reversal in three important dimensions; type of resource, type of institutional measure, and time. Studying components of primary exports we find that the curse is (to various degrees) present for all components but that its possible...

This paper establishes a simple model of long run economic and political development, which is driven by the inherent technical features of different factors in production, and political conflicts among factor owners on how to divide the outputs. The main capital form in economy evolves from...

This paper shows that whether natural resources are good or bad for a country’s development crucially depends on the interaction between institutional setting and the type of resources possessed by the country. Some natural resources are, for economical and technical reasons, more likely to...

This paper describes the political economy of shadow banking and how it relates to the dramatic institutional changes experienced by global capitalism over past 100 years. We suggest that the dynamics of shadow banking rest on the distributive tension between workers and firms. Politics wedge...

Ideas about what is "fair" above and beyond the individuals' position in the income ladder determine preferences for redistribution. We study the dynamic evolution of different economies in which redistributive policies, perception of fairness, inequality and growth are jointly determined. We...

The worst global downturn since the Great Depression has caused ballooning budget deficits in most nations, as tax revenues collapse and governments bail out financial institutions and attempt countercyclical fiscal policy. With notable exceptions, most economists accept the desirability of...

The growth literature on the Industrial Revolution has produced novel insights that have changed the way economists think about the issue. Most of the available models, however, focus on the household and do not put industrial activity at the center of the analysis. Consequently, they leave out...

Controversy remains over the degree of hypothetical bias in contingent valutation method (CVM) estimates of values for public goods, especially for public goods with significant passive-use values. This paper uses an 'indifferent voter' approach to calibrate stated WTP for a proposed public good...

Recent decades witnessed a trend whereby private markets retreated from financing the real economy, while, simultaneously, the real economy itself became increasingly financialized. This trend resulted in public finance becoming more important for investments in capital development, technical...

Forty-five years ago, the A. Philip Randolph Institute issued "The Freedom Budget," in which a program for economic transformation was proposed that included a job guarantee for everyone ready and willing to work, a guaranteed income for those unable to work or those who should not be working,...