In this paper we specialize the Ngai-Pissarides model of growth and structural change [American Economic Review 97 (2007), 429-443] to the case of three sectors, representing the primary (agriculture, mining), secondary (construction, manufacturing) and tertiary (services) sectors. On that basis we explore the dynamic properties of the model along the transition path to the steady-state equilib...

This paper presents a simple model of the world economy, in which productivity gains in manufacturing are responsible for the global trend of manufacturing decline, and yet, in cross-section of countries, faster productivity gains in manufacturing do not necessarily imply faster declines in manufacturing. In doing so, it aims to draw attention to the common pitfall of using the cross-country ev...

We construct a general equilibrium model of urban unemployment with a continuum of heterogeneous urban firms producing differentiated products in a monopolistic competitive market. We show that an increase in urban institutionally fixed minimum wage reduces urban aggregate output and each urban firm will experience an output cut proportional to the change in aggregate output. However, such prop...

This paper studies the impact of trade liberalization in terms of tariff cuts within the Eastern European enlargement on German and Austrian firm productivity. Unique matching of data from 1994 to 2003 suggests that tariff reductions raise parent firm productivity significantly. A ten percentage point decrease in tariff rates can lead to total factor productivity gains of up to 2 percent. The d...

This essay analyzes the long-term lessons of the recent upturn and downturn in the telecommunications industry. It concludes that volatility and cyclicality will be an inherent part of the telecom sector in the future. To deal with such instabilities, companies and investors seek consolidation and cooperation. Government, too, is likely to stress stability more than before. Hence, an oligopoly ...

This paper argues that barriers affect both the beginning date and the subsequent pace of modern growth, and taking into account this fact enriches our knowledge of cross-country income differences. The model matches the observed inverted U-shape of cross-country income differences, which implies that a substantial fraction of current income differences is transitional. Hence, the model require...

Do transitory economic shocks affect neonatal outcomes? I show that an unexpected, monthlong blackout in Tanzania caused a sharp but temporary drop in work hours for workers in electricity-dependent jobs. Using records from a maternity ward, I document a reduction in birth weights for children exposed in utero to the blackout, and an increase in the probability of low birth weight. The reductio...

Three dimensions of the performance of firms in Ghana’s manufacturing sector are investigated in this paper: their technology and the importance of technical and allocative efficiency. We show that the diversity of factor choices is not due to a non-homothetic technology. Observable skills are not quantitatively important as determinants of productivity. Technical inefficiency is not lower in f...

the present study surveys the effect of bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic conditions on bank performance to examine the structure-conduct-performance (scp) hypothesis in iranian banking industry. to achieve this goal, we drew upon the panel data technique to analyze the data of eleven public and private iranian banks during 2001-2006. firstly, productivity was calculated by usi...

This paper evaluates the effect of High Speed Rail (HSR) projects on the economic growth of targeted city nodes (HSR cities) in China using prefectural-level city data from 1990 to 2013. Employing a panel data program evaluation method devised by Hsiao, Chin and Wan (2012), we construct hypothetical counterfactuals for per capita real GDP of HSR cities in the absence of their respective HSR pro...