We characterize optimal debt policy in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of defaults and devaluations in which self-fulfilling crises can arise. When the government cannot commit to repay its debt and cannot commit to maintain the exchange rate, consumers’ expectations of...

A review essay on Neri Salvadori (ed.), Old and New Growth Theories. An Assessment, Cheltenham (UK) and Northampton (MA, USA), Edward Elgar, 2003. pp. xv+348 and Neri Salvadori (ed.), The Theory of Economic Growth. A ‘Classical’ Perspective, Cheltenham (UK) and Northampton (MA, USA), Edward...

We construct a two-sector vintage capital model with neutral and investment-specific technical progress and variable utilization of each vintage. The lifetime of capital goods is endogenous and it relies on the associated maintenance costs. First, we show that the lifetime of capital is an...

In this paper we argue that the increase in the obsolescence costs caused by the adoption of new information technologies, can play an important role in accounting for the productivity slowdown undergone by the US economy after 1974. We develop a standard growth model with physical and...

In this paper, we build up a general equilibrium model explicitly incorporating Schumpeterian growth à la Aghion and Howitt (1992) and a vintage capital structure in line with Solow (1960). Technological progress is embodied. We show that the investment rate is a fundamental determinant of the...

The productivity slowdown in the US economy since the first oil shock has recently been associated with a larger decline rate of the relative price of equipment investment and a smaller rate of disembodied technical change. We set up a growth model in which learning-by-doing is the engine of...