Economies at early stages of development are often shaken by abrupt changes in growth rates, whereas in advanced economies growth rates tend to be relatively stable. To explain this pattern, we propose a theory of technological diversification. Production makes use of different input varieties,...

We revisit Western Europe’s record with labor-productivity convergence, and tentatively extrapolate its implications for the future path of Eastern Europe. The poorer Western European countries caught up with the richer ones through both higher rates of physical capital accumulation and...

How much should governments subsidize the development of new clean technologies? We use patent citation data to investigate the relative intensity of knowledge spillovers in clean and dirty technologies in two technological fields: energy production and transportation. We introduce a new...

By employing a comparative method that analyzes China’s increasing presence in different Latin America countries, this study explores key features and implications of Beijing’s approach towards this region. Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are used as case studies to evaluate China’s diplomatic...

This paper presents annual estimates of fixed capital stocks and capital services for the United Kingdom, 1950-2013, for the whole economy and for the market sector. Our estimates cover eight asset types (structures, machinery, vehicles, computers, purchased software, own-account software,...

In this paper we develop a two-sector growth model of optimizing agents and apply this model to the data for the purpose of addressing the two interrelated questions that preoccupy the literature on development and growth accounting, namely: (1) What determines sustained growth and (2) What...

In a highly influential and thought provoking study, Hanushek, E.A., and Woessmann, L., (NBER Working Paper No.14633, 2009) provide evidence in favor of a strong causal effect of cognitive skills on growth. To quote: “… the simple premise that improving the schools can produce benefits in...

Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are common worldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. We exploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to support manufacturing jobs...

We investigate labor productivity dynamics amongst British businesses in the wake of the credit crisis of 2007/8. The external restructuring of firms (i.e. changes in market share, firm entry and exit) contributed to a fall in productivity growth relative to trend amongst small businesses in...

This paper presents a simple model of subsidies with export share requirements (ESR) in a heterogeneous firm environment. A two-country general equilibrium version of the model with a single 100% ESR is calibrated using firm-level data from the 2002 wave of the Business Environment and...