This thesis describes and analyzes the earnings inequality in the United Kingdom and related countries in particular Italy and Germany, incorporating institutional measures and changes. There are three main tasks: firstly, Chapter 2 shows that earnings inequality as well as skill premiums have...

The prominent role of monetary policy in the U.S. interwar depression has been conventional wisdom since Friedman and Schwartz [1963]. This paper presents evidence on both the surprise and the systematic components of monetary policy between 1929 and 1933. Doubts surrounding GDP estimates for...

The size and strength of the Royal Navy experienced a punctuated evolution into the largest and most powerful Navy in the world by 1815. Most historians tend to represent its superiority in conflicts at sea as an indication of several factors that would be conceptualized by economists as...

We analyse the determinants of the decline in measured research productivity (the patent/R&D ratio) using panel data on manufacturing firms in the U.S. for the period 1980-93. We focus on three factors: the level of demand, the quality of patents, and technological exhaustion. We first develop...

This paper takes a new look at the effects of mergers on innovation by analysing the relationship between ex-ante technological (and product) relatedness of acquirers and targets and post-merger performances. The analysis is conducted using data on consolidations in the pharmaceutical industry...

At the end of 2009, countries in the Eurozone began to experience a sudden divergence of bond yields as the perceived prospect of sovereign default risk increased. This paper examines the potential spillovers between the liquidity of the sovereign credit default swap (CDS) market and the...

The mixed results of International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programmes in less developed countries are a major motivation for this research. Explanations must be advanced as to what may inhibit the success of such programmes. South Africa has often found itself in a precarious...

Researchers have developed investigations into both initial and seasoned equity offering (SEO) by obtaining data from developed markets (e.g. Denis, 1994; Kothari and Warner, 1997; Corwin, 2003; Eckbo et al., 2006), while the literature in emerging markets is relatively neglected. This thesis provides an...

This study seeks to go beneath the generalizations that constitute characterizations of national economies in order to examine local and sectoral diversity - in particular, forms of capitalist organization at the level of localized sectors. It reports on the findings of research based on...

The implementation of the Maastricht criteria, establishment of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), creation of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) raised several challenges for the European Union (EU) countries. The main aim of this dissertation is to...