A formula is developed that enables labour productivity ranking of regions with minimum access to data. Furthermore, a probability approach is chosen in the use of uncertain information. Results indicate a productivity gap in favour of 14th century Italy compared to England.

We consider economies with incomplete markets, one good per state, private ownership of initial endowments, a single firm, and no assets other than shares in this firm. In this simple framework, arbitrarily small income effects can render every market equilibrium resulting from some production...

According to the “Mill hypothesis”, the tax burden from indirect taxation is underestimated because indirect taxes are less “visible” than direct taxes. We experimentally test the Mill hypothesis and identify tax framing as a cause of fiscal illusion. We find that the tax burden...

In many developing countries, large discrepancies exist between revenues implied by published tariff rates multiplied by estimated import volumes and actual receipts. We develop a stylized trade model where average and marginal tariff rates diverge and incorporate insights from this model into a...

In this paper we address the question of how to derive a statistically well-defined empirical model and the closely related question of how to choose the observational variables. Since the data are nonstationary, the derived empirical model is based on the multivariate cointegration model. The...

This paper presents a cointegrated VAR analysis of monetary transmission mechanisms and changes in them after Spain joined the EMS in 1989. Analyses of long-run price homogeneity within the I(2) model turned out to be crucial for understanding the joint behaviour of money, income, prices, and...

We quantify the amount of cross-sectional income and consumption smoothing achieved within subgroups of states, such as regions or clubs, e.g. the club of rich states. We find that there is much income smoothing between as well as within regions. By contrast, consumption smoothing occurs mainly...

The strategic commitment moves that game theory predicts players make may sometimes seem counter-intuitive. We therefore conducted an experiment to see if people make the predicted strategic move. The experiment uses a simple bargaining situation. A player can make a strategic move of committing...

This paper develops equilibrium correction models for money demand of European-wide monetary aggregates based on a multivariate cointegration analysis. It will be shown that whether or not the UK is a member of the monetary union does not affect the empirical stability of area-wide money demand...

This paper offers a refinement and explores a resolution of the excess-returns puzzle in the foreign exchange market. We find that the predictions of the forward premium are not negatively biased throughout the three decades of floating, as commonly believed, but rather are sometimes positively...