The goal of this study is to contribute to the debate on the role of government spending in shaping the growth process. We take the analysis in three new directions. First, we investigate the role of government spending in a scale-invariant Schumpeterian model of endogenous innovation. Second,...

Is political fragmentation (i.e. nation states) more favorable to economic growth than political unification (i.e. a united empire)? This paper develops a simple endogenous-growth model to analyze the conditions under which economic growth is higher under political fragmentation than under...

Why did the human brain evolve? This study develops a Malthusian growth model with heterogeneous agents and natural selection to explore the evolution of human brain size. We find that if the cognitive advantage of a larger brain dominates its higher metabolic costs, then the average brain size...

Early modern humans interbred with archaic humans. To explore this phenomenon, we develop a Malthusian growth model with hybridization in human evolution. Our hunting-gathering Malthusian economy features two initial human populations. We derive population dynamics and find that the more fertile...

Why did the human brain evolve? This study develops a Malthusian growth model with heterogeneous agents and natural selection to explore the evolution of human brain size. We find that if the cognitive advantage of a larger brain dominates its higher metabolic costs, then the average brain size...

The political system in China is often referred to as political meritocracy. This study develops a simple model of political economy to explore the strengths and weaknesses of a meritocratic system (in which political meritocrats design economic policies) relative to a democratic system...

The goal of this study is to contribute to the debate on the role of government spending in shaping the growth process. We take the analysis in three new directions. First, we investigate the role of government spending in a scale-invariant Schumpeterian model of endogenous innovation. Second,...

How does taxation affect growth and inequality? We develop a Schumpeterian model with wealth heterogeneity, which influences the effects of tax policy. Our model features iso-elastic utility on leisure under which the change in consumption dispersion across heterogeneous households may cause a...

Is agricultural productivity conducive to economic development? We develop a two-country open-economy Schumpeterian growth model with endogenous takeoff. With agricultural trade and a subsistence requirement, higher domestic agricultural productivity has ambiguous effects on the economy's...

This study contributes to the debate on how government spending shapes the growth process. We take the analysis in three new directions. First, we consider government spending in a scale-invariant Schumpeterian model of endogenous innovation. Second, we allow public spending to be the catalyst...