When per capita income is low, increases in income inequality make macroeconomic cycles less severe. We present a model in which access to credit is based on earnings potential. If low as well as middle income individuals are credit constrained, increases in income inequality lead to smaller...

We develop an analytical framework where products go through a standard life cycle and product quality is driven by cumulative production experience. Production experience influences the nature of cross-country outsourcing activity, and hence, the contents of trade. Multinational enterprises...

Countries with more developed financial sectors, experience fewer fluctuations in real per capita output, consumption, and investment growth. But the manner in which the financial sector develops matters. The relative importance of banks in the financial system is important in explaining...

Countries with more developed financial sectors experience fewer fluctuations in real per capita output, consumption, and investment growth. But it matters how the financial sector develops: the proportion of credit provided to the private sector is important in explaining volatility. Countries...