In this paper, we examine the results of GDP trend-cycle decompositions from the estimation of bivariate unobserved components models that allow for correlated trend and cycle innovations. Three competing variables are considered in the bivariate setup along with GDP: the unemployment rate, the...

Nominal interest rates may remain substantially below the averages of the last half-century, as central bank's inflation objectives lie below the average level of inflation and estimates of the real interest rate likely to prevail over the long run fall notably short of the average real interest...

A long-standing question in social science is to what extent differences in management cause differences in firm performance. To investigate this, the authors ran a management field experiment on large Indian textile firms, providing free consulting on modern management practices to a randomly...

Between 2008 and 2010, the authors worked with a leading global consulting company to attempt to improve management in Indian textile firms. They conducted a randomized experiment involving 28 plants in 17 firms in the woven cotton fabric industry. These were large firms, with an average of 270...

Since the early 1980s, the United States economy has changed in some important ways: Inflation now rises considerably less when unemployment falls and the volatility of output and inflation have fallen sharply. This paper examines whether changes in monetary policy can account for these...

Development economists have presented the problems of development in varying and incompatible terms, and have influentially advocated contradictory policies. After twists and turns a broad consensus has emerged on pro-poor growth objectives and on the policy and institutional means of achieving...

Books reviewed in this article: Dipak Das Gupta and Mustapha K. Nabli eds., Trade, Investment and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Engaging with the World Ian Bannon and Paul Collier eds., Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions E. M. Krenin and G. P. Michael,...