A simple model of political economy is constructed to capture the following view: Owners of sector-specific factors form political lobbies in order to influence government policy within the perimeter defined by the existing paradigm.

Several recent articles claim that pre-tax income equality promotes growth. Equality is argued to dampen demand for redistributive economic policies that tax returns to growth-enhancing activities such as investment. These results rest heavily on the assumption that pre-tax income equality is an...

This paper shows that the liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) tends to make the effect of labour costs on domestic investment and labour demand more negative. Using data from Germany, it then provides evidence that is consistent with this view. First, high unit labour costs...

Over the period 1972-1986, the correlations of GDP, employment and investment between the United States and an aggregate of Europe, Canada and Japan were respectively 0.76, 0.66, and 0.63. For the period 1986 to 2000 the same correlations were much lower: 0.26, 0.03, and -0.07 (real...

The Tasmaninan Government has recently followed the reputably successful New Brunswick Government of Canada in setting up an industrial strategy to build an information technolgy (IT) industry of significance. The strategy aims to overcome isolation in small region-based economies and...

Many quantitative studies have shown a stylised fact that fluctuations in business fixed investment dominate the business cycle pattern. The dynamics of the investment process have historically been seen as important elements of capital formation and economic progress. Why is it then that...

In this paper, we investigate endogenous foreign direct investment incentives in an export sector when the tariff is exogenously given. Using a cost-benefit rule to determine export-investment incentives, authorities are shown to set subsidies which neutralize the effects of tariffs and which...