In this paper we consider the trade creating effects of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) for a large sample of countries within the period 1962-2000. The paper builds upon existing literature by examining whether any significant effects of PTAs occur through a change in the variety of...

Introducing equilibrium unemployment to the solution of the intertemporal allocation of non-leisure time, we derive two wage-setting models which we estimate by panel data and cross-section regressions applied on aggregative data. The results support the empirical relation known as the...

In this paper we develop a two-sector growth model of optimizing agents and apply this model to the data for the purpose of addressing the two interrelated questions that preoccupy the literature on development and growth accounting, namely: (1) What determines sustained growth and (2) What...

We contribute to the growing empirical literature on monetary and fiscal interactions by applying a sign restriction identification scheme to a structural TVP-VAR in order to disentangle and evaluate the policy shocks and policy transmissions. This in turn allows us to study the Great Recession...

At the height of the financial crisis, the Western welfare state prevented a repeat of the Great Depression. But there were also suggestions that social policy had contributed to the crisis, particularly by promoting households’ access to credit in pursuit of welfare goals. Others claim that...

In a highly influential and thought provoking study, Hanushek, E.A., and Woessmann, L., (NBER Working Paper No.14633, 2009) provide evidence in favor of a strong causal effect of cognitive skills on growth. To quote: “… the simple premise that improving the schools can produce benefits in...

Introducing equilibrium unemployment to the solution of the intertemporal allocation of non-leisure time, we derive two wage-setting models which we estimate by panel data and cross-section regressions applied on aggregative data. The results support the empirical relation known as the...

Following recent studies by the Bank of England that the low financial market confidence and low expectations about private sector profits over the next three years has lead to unusually low price-to-book ratios, we incorporate a stock market mechanism in a general equilibrium framework. More...

We establish a set of US stylized facts on prices, quantities and balance sheets, assess the consistency of the current generation of financial DSGE models to these, and provide guidance on the challenges ahead. We mainly find four aspects which future financial friction models should take into...

The sharp rise in household finance, both in debt and in assets, is one of the striking empirical facts about the US economy of the last two decades. But it is still not clear what caused it. Economists, both mainstream and heterodox, seek an explanation in financial market innovation and...