Government spending on infrastructure has recently increased sharply in many emerging-market economies. This paper examines the mechanism through which public infrastructure spending affects the dynamics of the real exchange rate. Using a two-sector dependent open economy model with...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001

The large and stable inflow of workers' remittances through formal financial channels to developing countries prompted authorities to harness fiscal resources from this flow. This paper develops a macro-dynamic model of a small open economy with cross-border labor mobility emphasizing fiscal...

This paper empirically examines the factors causing the recently increased flow of workers' remittances to developing countries. The main question we seek to answer is whether these increased remittances are the result of increased amounts sent by existing migrants (intensive margin) or the...

This paper examines fungibility as a possible explanation for the missing link between foreign aid and economic growth. The composition of aid plays a crucial role in determining the composition of government spending and, consequently, the magnitude of fungibility and its impact on growth....

We use data for 436 rural districts from the 2001 Census of India to examine whether different aspects of social divisions help explain the wide variation in access to tap water across rural India. Studies linking social fragmentation to public goods usually aggregate different types of...

In this paper, we analyze the consequences of delays and cost overruns typically associated with the provision of public infrastructure in the context of a growing economy. Our results indicate that uncertainty about the arrival of public capital can more than offset its positive spillovers for...