Endogenous Growth in an OLG Model with a Fixed Factor

This paper examines the conditions for endogenous growth in an overlapping generations (OLG) model with two sectors of production when the returns to scale may be non constant and provides the technological conditions for the highest in- come growth rate.

Endogenous Growth and Regional Dynamics in an OLG Model with Land

This paper examines the existence condition of a balanced growth path in an overlapping generations model in which production uses three inputs, physical capital, human capital and land, with increasing returns to scale. Human capital is the engine of economic growth. It is shown that, unlike standard economic geography models, increasing returns verifying balanced growth always lead to regional convergence. Physical capital mobility turns out to be an overwhelming convergence force.Endogenous growth; human capital; land; overlapping generations; regional dynamics

Endogenous Growth and Parental Funding of Education in an OLG Model with a Fixed Factor

This paper examines the stationary state income level and income growth in an overlapping generations (OLG) model in which production uses three inputs: physical capital, human capital and land. The accumulation of human capital relies on parental funding of education and the past aggregate human capital stock. Four cases exhibiting various possible specifications of returns to scale in output and human capital technologies are studied and compared.

Optimal Saving with Additive and Multiplicative Background Risk

We study optimal saving when incomes are certain and risk bears on consumption. A key finding is that, with CARA utility and additive uncertain consumption, or CRRA utility and multiplicative consumption, risk-averse individuals do not form precautionary saving as in the standard theory of saving under uncertainty.Consumption; risk-aversion; saving; uncertainty

Labor productivity in Europe: Evidence from a sample of regions

The present paper aims at analyzing the sources of productivity in Europe to account for its recent underperformance and identify potential geographic idiosyncracies. We study the productivity performance and its sources in a sample of ten European regions belonging to four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain). Exploiting the increasing availability of disaggregated data at regional level in Europe, we propose both a descriptive statistics and an econometric analysis of productivity sources since 1995. Our main finding is that the sources of labor productivity are rather heterogeneous across our sample but may be associated with regional or national idiosyncracies.Labor productivity, productivity determinants, European regions

Memory in Contracts: The Experience of the EBRD (1991-2003)

The objective of this paper is to identify the role of memory as a screening device in repeated contracts with asymmetric information in financial intermediation. We use an original dataset from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We propose a simple empirical method to capture the role of memory using the client’s reputation. Our results unambiguously isolate the dominant effect of memory on the bank’s lending decisions over market factors in the case of established clients.Financial contract,Empirical contract theory,Reputation,Asymmetric

Labor productivity in Europe: Evidence from a sample of regions

The present paper aims at analyzing the sources of labor productivity in Europe at regional level. We study the productivity performance in a sample of twenty European regions belonging to four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain). Exploiting the increasing availability of disaggregated data at regional level, we propose both a descriptive statistics and an econometric analysis of productivity sources since 1995. Our main finding is that the levels and sources of labor productivity are rather heterogeneous across the sample. This heterogeneity is found to be associated with disparities both across sectors and regions.Labor productivity, productivity determinants, European regions.

Memory in Contracts: The experience of the EBRD (1991-2003)

The objective of this paper is to identify the role of memory in repeated contracts with moral hazard in financial intermediation. We use an original dataset from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to test a basic model with repeated moral hazard. To capture the role of memory, we need to control for the adverse selection effect. We propose a simple empirical method to achieve it. Our results unambiguously isolate the effect of memory in the bank's lending decisions.

Evidence on the Determinants of Innovation in a Sample of Spanish firms

audience: researcher, studen