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Autocracies And Development In A Global Economy: A Tale Of Two Elites, Anders Akerman, Anna Larsson, Alireza Naghavi
Autocracies And Development In A Global Economy: A Tale Of Two Elites, Anders Akerman, Anna Larsson, Alireza Naghavi
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers
This paper studies how comparative advantage and the political elites endowments shape long-run performance in an economy with imperfect political institutions. In a capital-scarce economy, an autocrat catering to the needs of landowners favors openness to trade at an early stage of development, while an autocrat complying with the preferences of capitalists chooses to shelter the economy from trade. The resulting trade regime interacts with economic institutions, and with policies on capital mobility, to govern capital accumulation. A landed autocrat neglects to improve institutions and blocks foreign capital to maximise extractable rents, leading the economy towards stagnation. By contrast, a …
Trade And Geography In The Economic Origins Of Islam: Theory And Evidence, Stelios Michalopoulos, Alireza Naghavi, Giovanni Prarolo
Trade And Geography In The Economic Origins Of Islam: Theory And Evidence, Stelios Michalopoulos, Alireza Naghavi, Giovanni Prarolo
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers
This research examines the economic origins of Islam and uncovers two empirical regularities. First, Muslim countries, virtual countries and ethnic groups, exhibit highly unequal regional agricultural endowments. Second, Muslim adherence is systematically larger along the pre-Islamic trade routes in the Old World. The theory argues that this particular type of geography (i) determined the economic aspects of the religious doctrine upon which Islam was formed, and (ii) shaped its subsequent economic performance. It suggests that the unequal distribution of land endowments conferred differential gains from trade across regions, fostering predatory behavior from the poorly endowed ones. In such an environment …
Spatial Development, Klaus Desmet, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg
Spatial Development, Klaus Desmet, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers
We present a theory of spatial development. A continuum of locations in a geographic area choose each period how much to innovate (if at all) in manufacturing and services. Locations can trade subject to transport costs and technology diffuses spatially across locations. The result is an endogenous growth theory that can shed light on the link between the evolution of economic activity over time and space. We apply the model to study the evolution of the U.S. economy in the last few decades and find that the model can generate the reduction in the employment share in manufacturing, the increase …
Trade, Technique And Composition Effects: What Is Behind The Fall In World-Wide So2 Emissions 1990-2000?, Jean-Marie Grether, Nicole Andréa Mathys, Jaime De Melo
Trade, Technique And Composition Effects: What Is Behind The Fall In World-Wide So2 Emissions 1990-2000?, Jean-Marie Grether, Nicole Andréa Mathys, Jaime De Melo
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers
Combining unique data bases on emissions with sectoral output and employment data, we study the sources of the fall in world-wide SO2 emissions and estimate the impact of trade on emissions. Contrarily to concerns raised by environmentalists, an emission-decomposition exercise shows that scale effects are dominated by technique effects working towards a reduction in emissions. A second exercise comparing the actual trade situation with an autarky benchmark estimates that trade, by allowing clean countries to become net importers of emissions, leads to a 10% increase in world emissions with respect to autarky in 1990, a figure that shrinks to 3.5% …
Global Climate Change, Technology Transfer And Trade With Complete Specialization, Dirk T.G. Rübbelke, Vivekananda Mukherjee
Global Climate Change, Technology Transfer And Trade With Complete Specialization, Dirk T.G. Rübbelke, Vivekananda Mukherjee
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers
The paper develops a model in which a country with better technology for abatement of Green House Gas (GHG) emission (the North) commits to an international protocol to keep the global GHG emission within a specified limit while it helps the mitigation effort in the other country (the South) with unconditional transfer of abatement technology. It finds out in the autarkic (‘no trade’) equilibrium the technology transfer offer from the North is always accepted by the South. The North may offer either a partial or a complete technology transfer. If partial technology transfer is offered it finds out the determinants …