Following Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992) a growing number of studies find that neoclassical growth models, augmented by human capital, successfully account for the large cross-country income differences found in the data. This paper argues that such models are inconsistent with observations on...

A number of recent papers have investigated the growth effects of tax reforms in the context of neoclassical growth models where growth is due to human capital accumulation. Stokey and Rebelo (1995) show that the predicted growth effects disagree to a striking extent and are highly sensitive to...

A large empirical literature investigates the link between "openness" and growth. Cross-country observations suggest that (i) "openness" enhances growth by increasing a country's rate of investment, and (ii) variables related to equipment investment are robustly and strongly correlated with...

A number of recent studies suggest that flat rate taxes may have important effects on long-run growth in the neoclassical growth model with human capital. In contrast to the traditional human capital literature, these studies assume that agents are infinitely lived and face constant returns in...

A large empirical literature investigates the link between "openness" and growth. Cross-country observations suggest that (i) "openness" enhances growth by increasing a country's rate of investment, and (ii) variables related to equipment investment are robustly and strongly correlated with...

A number of recent studies suggest that flat rate taxes may have important effects on long-run growth in the neoclassical growth model with human capital. In contrast to the traditional human capital literature, these studies assume that agents are infinitely lived and face constant returns in...

Students' choices in education can only be based on expected outcomes. Econometric models that infer expectations based on ex post outcomes impose a rational structure of expectations on school performance and post-graduation earnings. Direct surveys suggest much ignorance and fuzziness. We use...

As Switzerland experiences a severe shortage of nurses, this paper investigates the impact of students' ex ante wage expectations on their choice to pursue a nursing college education. This analysis contributes to a small yet rapidly developing body of literature that uses subjective expectation...