Can high levels of state capacity protect countries from slow growth and deepening output collapses? Using data for 108 developing countries, we classify five-year periods using a two- dimensional state space based on growth regimes and levels of state capacity. We model transitions between them...

We investigate the existence of a middle-income trap using finite state Markov chains, constant growth thresholds, and mean passage times. As well as studying output per head, we examine the dynamics of its proximate determinants: TFP, the capital-output ratio, and human capital. We find upwards...

Major output collapses are costly and frequent in the developing world. Using cross-country data, we classify five-year periods using a two-dimensional state space based on growth regimes and political institutions. We then model the joint evolution of output growth and political institutions as...

Previous research suggests that economy-wide poverty traps are rarely observed in the data. In this paper, we explore a related hypothesis: low-income countries rarely improve their position relative to the US. Using finite state Markov chains, we show that upwards mobility is indeed limited....