We estimate the impact of hurricane strikes on local economic growth rates and how this is reflected in more aggregate growth patterns. To this end we assemble a panel data set of US coastal counties’ growth rates and construct a hurricane destruction index that is based on a monetary loss...

In this paper we extend the Bahk and Gort (1993) (Journal of Political Economy, <Emphasis Type="Bold">101, 561–583) approach of testing for the impact of learning by doing (LBD) on firm productivity using data on a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. Specifically, we show that support for firm specific LBD and...</emphasis>

This Paper presents an empirical study of the effect of foreign multinational companies on the development of indigenous firms in the host country. Our starting point is a recent paper by Markusen and Venables (1999) that shows formally that multinationals, through the creation of linkages with...

This paper examines whether multinational companies are more footloose than their domestic counterparts in the host country, using data for the Irish manufacturing sector. First, we investigate whether plant survival rates differ between multinationals and indigenous plants. Second, we analyse...

We study the relationship between economic development and consumption of natural resources using a vintage capital model. Consumption of natural resources is assumed to generate pollution, part of which will be absorbed by nature's self-regeneration capacity. We find that during the transition...

In this paper we provide empirical evidence on the determinants of firm start-up size using data for the manufacturing sector in Ireland, and compare our results with recent findings for Portuguese manufacturing industries (Mata and Machado, 1996). To allow for firm heterogeneity between firm...