This paper examines the roles of cost of labour input and competition on productivity dispersion in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector. We look at the effect accounting for labour input quality has on explaining productivity dispersion. This paper tests the hypothesis that mismeasurement of...

This study examines the technical efficiency of schools in Australia and its determinants using NAPLAN test results of about 6,800 schools in 2009-2011 and other information from the “My School” website. For each school, we use the average growth of test scores for the same students between...

Since the start of the Eurozone, the pattern of debt ows to Peripheral Europe seems puzzling: they were mostly indirect and intermediated by the large countries of the euro area. This paper examines the euro currency risk and the business cycle risk as two opposing forces: while the currency...

This paper poses a question: do firms in developing countries not innovate because they are unwilling to? The question moves away from the conventional focus on the obstacles (such as the lack of access to finance) that hinder firms'innovation ability. The World Bank's Enterprise Survey is used...

In countries with limited access to finance, firms accumulate retained earnings to finance indivisible investment projects. McKinnon (1973) illustrates that when cash is used as a primary store of value, inflation may discourage investment as it increases the cost of accumulating retained...

Changes in asset prices of a country's foreign assets and liabilities (“valuation effects”) are commonly thought of as stabilizing: they counteract current account movements and mitigate the impact of the current account on the country's net foreign asset (NFA) position. This paper shows...

Is there a"middle income trap"? Theory suggests that the determinants of growth at low and high income levels may be different. If countries struggle to transition from growth strategies that are effective at low income levels to growth strategies that are effective at high income levels, they...

This paper examines the home market effect in the framework of heterogeneous firms. The paper finds that not only trade costs but also fixed trade costs cause the home market effect and the reverse home market effect can occur as the fixed trade costs are very low. In addition, the magnitude of...