Although it is well known that Markov process theory, frequently applied in the literature on income convergence, imposes some very restrictive assumptions upon the data generating process, these assumptions have generally been taken for granted so far. The present paper proposes, resp. recalls...

Chinese aid comes with few strings attached, allowing recipient country leaders to use it for domestic political purposes. The vulnerability of Chinese aid to political capture has prompted speculation that it may be economically ineffective, or even harmful. We test these claims by estimating...

This paper deals with the question of how the pressure of migration resulting from the unification of a rich and a poor country can be mitigated. The example of Germany is presented with a view toward potential lessons for a future Korean unification.

The paper concentrates on the question whether the low level of productivity in East Germany can be explained by deficits in the stock of human capital. It is shown that figures on ?formal? qualifications yield a too optimistic view on human capital endowments; in fact, the effective stock on...

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, welchen Beitrag die sogenannten Konvergenzregressionen einerseits und die Schätzungen von Markov-Ketten andererseits zur Klärung der Frage leisten können, ob die regionalen Pro-Kopf-Einkommen in Westdeutschland seit Mitte der siebziger Jahre konvergiert oder...

We identify measures of shocks to total factor productivity and preferences from two real business cycle models and subject them to Granger causality tests to see whether they can be considered exogenous to other plausible sources of the German business cycle. For the period 60.i to 89.iv no...

The present paper aims at explaining the regional deconcentration of economic activities in (West) Germany during the past two decades. Using an idea-based endogenous growth model that encloses several innovative sectors, that subjects economic activity to externalities of agglomeration, and...

Based on a standard idea-based model of endogenous growth we test the hypothesis that regional innovative activity is path-dependent, and investigate the geographical scope of knowledge spillovers. Using data for West-German regions, two alternative indicators of the stock of knowledge are...

Declining spatial transaction costs will affect patterns of urban specialization. The underlying hypothesis is that production locations of goods and services which require face-to-face contacts will continue to be concentrated in core cities of large agglomerations even in the Internet age...

This paper analyzes a stylized model of international capital mobility and diffusion of embodied technologies from North to South. The South can fall behind in terms of technologies or get trapped in a situation, in which it is unable to attract foreign capital and embodied technologies, if its...