This paper analyses the determinants of spatial distribution of foreign technological activity across 96 German regions (1996-2009). We identify foreign inventive activity by applying the ‘cross-border-ownership concept’ to transnational patent applications. The descriptive analysis shows...

Sumptuary laws that regulated clothing based on social status were an important part of the political economy of premodern states. We introduce a model that rationalizes the use of sumptuary laws by elites to regulate status competition from below. Our model predicts a non-monotonic effect of...

This paper re-examines Blanchard and Quah's (1989) aggregate supply/demand model interpretation of output shocks using data from ten countries. Although postwar data support their interpretation, the model is not supported by nineteenth century data. In the postwar period, permanent output...