This paper develops a bio-economic Malthusian growth model. By integrating recent research on allometric scaling, energy consumption, and ontogenetic growth we provide a model where subsistence consumption is endogenously linked to body mass and fertility. The theory admits a two-dimensional...

In this paper we analyze the distribution of fertility rates across the world using parametric mixture models. We demonstrate the existence of twin peaks and the division of the world's countries in two distinct components: a high-fertility regime and a low fertility regime. Whereas the...

Evidence from economics, anthropology and biology testifies to a fundamental household trade-off between the number of offspring (quantity) and amount of nutrition per child (quality). This leads to a theory of pre-industrial growth where body size as well as population size is endogenous. But...

Household poverty is a powerful motive for child labor and working frequently comes at the expense of schooling for children. Accounting for these natural links we investigate whether and when there is an additional role for community norms and how the social evaluation of schooling evolves over...

This paper first replicates Basu and Fernald's (1995) US results to find no externalities from aggregate West German manufacturing to gross industry output changes and approximately constant internal returns to scale. However, when we distinguish between upswings and downturns in aggregate...

Human capital accumulation is introduced into a growth model with R&D-driven expansion in variety and quality and knowledge spillovers from both research activities. Economic growth is not longer uniquely tied to population growth as previous growth models without scale effects suggest. The...

The paper analyses the long-run equilibrium and adjustment dynamics in models of economic growth where property rights are absent. A comparison with the standard models assesses the importance of property rights quantitatively. In the neoclassical growth model individuals arrive at a lower...

The paper investigates an economy where parents observe wage rates, interest rates, and child mortality and decide about savings and the quantity and quality of their children. Expenditure on child quality causes human capital accmulation as an external effect. If mortality is high parents...

This paper analyses the long-run effects of Estonia’s 2000 Income Tax Act with a dynamic general equilibrium model. Specifically, we consider the impact of the shift from an imputation system to one where companies only pay taxes on distributed profits. Balanced growth paths, transitional...

Recent empirical studies have revealed a strong impact of tax changes on corporate finance. Yet, models of economic growth usually neglect financial structure of the representative firm. In order to investigate whether the consideration of firm finance modifies the estimated outcome of capital...