Using objective institutional historical data for the case of Uruguay, we test the link between rent-seeking behavior in democracies using time-series and panel data approaches. We find three main results. First, democratic regimes are negatively linked with rent-seeking actions. Second, the...

The objective of this paper is to provide some stylized facts on the links between current account deficits and a broad set of economic variables proposed by the literature. In order to accomplish this task, we complement and extend previous empirical research by (1) using a large and consistent...

The authors examine the empirical links between current account deficits and a broad set of economic variables proposed in the literature. To accomplish this, they complement and extend previous research by using a large, consistent set of macroeconomic data on public and private domestic...

Some key criteria in the optimal currency area literature are that countries should join a currency union if they have closer international trade links and more symmetric business cycles. However, both criteria are endogenous. Frankel and Rose (1998) find that trade intensity increases cycle...