By using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo methods we select the proper subset of competitive firms and find striking evidence for Laplace shaped firm profit rate distributions. Our approach enables us to extract more information from data than previous research. We filter US firm-level data...

We introduce the Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP), which is developing two separate datasets (The Global Consumption Dataset (GCD) and The Global Income Dataset (GID)) containing an unprecedented portrait of consumption and income of persons over time, within and across countries,...

The main objective of the present paper is to investigate explicitly the role of the state of confidence for the macroeconomic dynamics of two interacting economies using the opinion dy- namics approach by Weidlich and Haag (1983) and Lux (1995). Particularly, the overall state of confidence in...

This paper studies the evolution of the earnings distribution from 1995 to 2010 of four major de- mographic groups are considered separately, which shows that there are important differences in the experience of inequality that imply that race and gender are not separable when it comes to...

We analyze how the impact of a change in the sovereign debt-to-GDP ratio on economic growth depends on the state of the financial market. A dynamic growth model is put forward demonstrating that debt affects macroeconomic activity in a non-linear manner due to amplifi- cations from the financial...

In this paper we set up a baseline, but nevertheless advanced and complete model rep-resenting detailed goods market dynamics, heterogeneous labor markets, dual and cross-dual wage-price adjustment processes, as well as counter-cyclical government policies. The cyclical movements of output...

Using Cointegrated Vector Auto-Regression analysis, we provide evidence for the US manufacturing sector that production capacities adjust endogenously to current output in the long run. The rate of capacity utilization, i.e. the output-capacity ratio, is found to be stationary since production...

This paper focuses on the relationship between financialisation and inequality in South Africa. As such, the focus is on the importance/significance of finance and the financial sector in perpetuating old and new inequality fault lines in contemporary South Africa. It uses the tragic Marikana...

A sizable literature claims that female labor force participation (FLFP) follows a U-shaped trend as countries develop due to structural change, education and fertility dynamics. We show that empirical support for this secular trend is feeble and depends on the data sources used, especially...