Recent years have seen a spike in New Zealand's road death toll, a phenomenon also seen in some other countries such as Australia. This paper analyses the short-run impact of fuel prices on road accident outcomes in New Zealand, including the numbers of road deaths, accidents, and injuries....

Using data for 160 countries for the period 1963-2001, this paper examines the short-run relationship between economic growth and changes in national leaders. To address the potential endogeneity of economic growth, I use exogenous variation in commodity export prices, export partner incomes,...

This article investigates whether female political representation affects economic growth. Panel estimates for 119 democracies using fixed-effects specifications and a system generalized method of moments approach suggest that, over recent decades, countries with higher shares of women in...

Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963-2007, we examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of...

This paper examines why some countries have experienced environmental Kuznets curve (EKC)-type reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while others have not. The hypothesis that climbing to the upper rungs of the electricity ladder (nuclear power and modern renewables) has been the primary...

This paper documents an energy ladder that nations ascend as their per capita incomes increase. On average, economic development results in an overall substitution from the use of biomass to fulfill energy needs to energy sourced from fossil fuels, and then toward nuclear power and certain...

This article discusses the potential benefits of an enhanced use of externality pricing schemes in the Asia Pacific. Prices on emissions and congestion could ameliorate the negative effects of underpriced resource use, be pro-poor, and improve fiscal capacities. The main implementation...

This study utilizes data for 144 countries from 1991–2010 to present the first international estimates of the gasoline price elasticity of road fatalities. We instrument each country's gasoline price with that country's oil reserves and the yearly international crude oil price to address...

The evolution of motorcycle ownership is a crucial issue for road safety, as motorcyclists are highly vulnerable road users. Analyzing a panel of 153 countries for the period 1963-2010, we document a motorcycle Kuznets curve which sees motorcycle dependence increase and then decrease as...

After years of general progress in reducing Australia's road death toll, road deaths increased in 2015 and 2016, reaching 1,293 per annum. These were also years of relatively cheap fuel following the dramatic decline in the world oil price in late 2014. This study uses monthly data to model the...