We report results from two different settings of a 3-player ultimatum game. Under the monocratic rule, a player is randomly selected to make an offer to two receivers. Under the democratic rule, all three players make a proposal, and one proposal is then extracted. A majority vote is required to...

I develop a model of growth based on three assumptions: first, a variety of technologies characterised by different degrees of labour skill intensity, where technological change is localized; second, agents are boundedly rational, and the aggregate rule of motion of their behaviour follows a...

We report experimental results from three Colombian villages concerning the impact of a voting mechanism on interpersonal trust and trustworthiness. The vote is purely consultative in that participants are asked to declare in a secret ballot the most “appropriate” plan of action for...

The extent to which labour market rigidity can be beneficial for an economy is investigated in a model where technological change is non-general purpose and different types of skills are available to workers. More precisely, specific skills lock a worker into a particular technology but...

We draw on a dynamical two-sector model and on a calibration exercise to study the impact of a skill-biased technological shock on the growth path and income distribution of a developing economy. The model builds on the theoretical framework developed by Silverberg and Verspagen (1995) and on...

The contrasting effects of labour market rigidity on efficiency are investigated in a model where technological change is non-general purpose and different types of skills are available to workers. Ex ante efficiency calls for high labour market rigidity, as this favours workers’ acquisition...

This paper is the first empirical framework that explains the phenomenon of fast growth combined with the demographic transition occurring in the United States since 1860. I propose a structural model that unifies those events through the role of education: the key feature is that parental...

We assess whether during the recent financial crisis banking systems in countries with more stringent prudential banking regulation have proved more stable. We find indicators of regulatory strength to be relatively well correlated with the extent to which countries have escaped damage during...

We argue that a rational-economic model of how societies choose their paygo tax rate can explain the cross section variance of these rates in large, developed OECD economies. Using a two-period OLG framework, we suggest that paygo tax rates are determined by a representative agent and a...

We argue that paygo rates are determined by a representative agent and a benevolent government jointly maximizing the expected life-time utility of the agent. The distributions of labor and capital income are calculated from national data on real GDP, real wages and the real return to capital...