This research advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that, in the course of the prehistoric exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance to various settlements across the globe affected genetic diversity and has had a persistent hump-shaped effect on...

This paper examines the central hypothesis of the influential Malthusian theory, according to which improvements in the technological environment during the preindustrial era had generated only temporary gains in income per capita, eventually leading to a larger, but not significantly richer,...

The origin of the uneven distribution of ethnic and cultural fragmentation across countries has been underexplored, despite the importance attributed to the effects of diversity on the stability and prosperity of nations. Building on the role of deeply-rooted biogeographical forces in...

This paper analyzes the intertemporal allocation effects of anticipated tax rate changes, reconsidering the recommendations of the Meade Committee in a perfect foresight general equilibrium model of economic growth. It is shown that the R-base (or consumption) tax can be more distortionary than...

A multicountry Schumpeterian growth model is constructed. Because of technology transfer, R&D-performing countries converge to parallel growth paths; other countries stagnate. A parameter change that would have raised a country's growth rate in standard Schumpetarian theory will permanently...

This paper constructs a stationary rational-expectations equilibrium in which an extraneous random variable, called animal spirits, causes fluctuations in unemployment. The model assumes costly matching in the labor market and a thin-market externality in the output market that makes the...