The paper reviews the growth performance of different groups of Asian economies, confirms the role of openness as a key factor explaining the growth differences among the Asian economies, and undertakes a preliminary investigation of the role of social capital and institutions. The role of...

Extending McCallum's (1995) result, based on a gravity model of 1988 trade flows, that a typical Canadian province trades 22 times more with other provinces than with U.S. states of similar size and distance, this paper asks how Quebec trade patterns compare with those of other provinces. The...

This paper first shows how the convergence model generally applicable to the OECD and in augmented form to global samples fails to reflect the post-1960 experience of the Asian economies, and then considers some of the factors explaining the differences. Investment rates in physical capital...

Using annual data 1963-1989 for technical progress in GECD countries (as measured by Solow residuals constructed using GECD data made internationally comparable through the use of purchasing power parties), the paper first shows that there has been significant international convergence in the...

Using cross-sectional and pooled data for up to 125 countries over the period from 1960 to 1985, this paper evaluates the two-way linkages between democracy and economic growth. The effects of income on democracy are found to be robust and positive. The effects of several measures of democracy...

This paper first surveys a number of partial and macroeconomic approaches to the determination of the current account, and then summarizes the evidence from multicountry economic models about the linkages between U.S. government spending and the U.S. current account during the 1 980s. The...

Evidence from three multicountry models is used to assess the current account effects of U.S. and Japanese fiscal policies. Asymmetries in the effects of U.S. and Japanese policies are analyzed in some detail, and attributed to differences in country size, in trade patterns (which have only a...

The MACE model of Canada employs a nested production structure in which there is a vintage bundle of capital and energy that is combined with efficiency units of labour to define potential output for given quantities of employed factors. The actual level of output is derived from an estimated...

The paper first attempts to demonstrate the fundamental importance of the social context. The related evidence is drawn from recent theoretical and empirical advances in the study of subjective well-being. Treating people's self-assessments of the quality of their lives as valid measures of...