We develop a unified theory of endogenous business cycles in which expansions are neoclassical growth periods driven by productivity improvements and capital accumulation, while downturns are the result of Keynesian contractions in aggregate demand below potential output. Recessions allow...

We show how a Schumpeterian process of creative destruction can induce coordination in the timing of entrepreneurial activities across diverse sectors of the economy.Consequently, a multi-sector economy, in which sector-specific, productivity improvements are made by independent, profit-seeking...

We use the returns on a set of international financial securities to identify exogenous shocks to the Canadian federal surplus. We find that a large portion of the variation in the surplus can be replicated by a linear combination of these returns and that the rising debt observed in the 1980s...

This paper examines the impact of education and occupational choice on the growth-inequality relationship. Occupations that play asymmetric roles in the production process are distinguished. The dynamic evolution of the detrended distribution of income is characterized and shown to converge to...

Many argue that elements of a society s norms, culture or social capital are central to understanding its development.However, these notions have been difficult to capture in economic models.Here we argue that trustworthiness is the economically relevant component of a society s culture and...

In this paper, we analyze the interactions between growth and the contracting environment in the production sector.Allowing incompleteness in contracting implies that viable production relationships for firms and workers, and therefore the profitability of industries, depend on the rates of...