We present a theory of ethnic conflict in which coalitions formed along ethnic lines competefor the economy’s resources. The role of ethnicity is to enforce coalition membership: inethnically homogeneous societies members of the losing coalition can defect to the winnersat low cost, and this...

We study cross-country differences in the aggregate production function whenskilled and unskilled labor are imperfect substitutes. We find that there is a skill biasin cross-country technology differences. Higher-income countries use skilled labormore efficiently than lower-income countries,...

There are two sources of inconsistency in existing cross-country empiricalwork on growth: correlated individual effects and endogenous explanatoryvariables. We estimate a variety of cross- country growth regressions usinga generalized method of moments estimator that eliminates both problems.In...

In the field of housing economics, there is a long traditionof evaluating housing outcomes for the entire populationand various subgroups by tracking four key variables, orconcepts: the physical adequacy of the occupied housingunit, the number of people living in the unit relative to thenumber...

[...]In this paper, we update this affordability debateusing data from the 1990s. We follow Gyourko and Linneman(1993) in addressing the affordability issue by asking asimple question: Is a home of a given quality from ten ortwenty years ago more or less affordable today to a householdsimilarly...

[...]The purpose of this article is to develop a clearerpicture of the importance of payments services to the bankingindustry. This goal is served by taking a broad view of thepayments business and analyzing information provided bylarge bank holding companies (BHCs) in their annualreports. BHCs...

This paper explores the connections betweenbroad economic indicators in the New Yorkmetropolitan region and their national counterparts.It compares the performance of theregion in recent years with that of the nation and assessesthe importance of national and local developments for thearea’s...

This paper revisits Bairoch’s hypothesis that in the late 19th century tariffs were positively associated with growth, as recently confirmed by a new generation of quantitative studies (see O`Rourke (2000), Jacks (2006) and Clemens-Williamson (2002, 2004)). This paper highlights the importance...

This paper presents new regional GDP estimates for the Habsburg Monarchy and constructs measures of market potential for its 22 major regions. The paper argues that regional income differentials were significantly larger, that intra-empire catching-up of poor with rich regions was far more...

At the start of the long wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, the taxes available to the British state fell mainly on outlays made by its citizens, upon domestically produced commodities and services. Smaller proportions came from import duties and direct taxes upon their incomes...