Religion and Economic Growth: Was Weber Right?

Evidence of falling wages in Catholic cities and rising wages in Protestant cities between 1500 and 1750, during the spread of literacy in the vernacular, is inconsistent with most theoretical models of economic growth. In The Protestant Ethic, Weber suggested an alternative explanation based on culture. Here, a theoretical model confirms that a small change in the subjective cost of cooperating with strangers can generate a profound transformation in trading networks. In explaining urban growth in early-modern Europe, specifications compatible with human-capital versions of the neoclassical model and endogenous-growth theory are rejected in favor of a “small-world” formulation based on the Weber thesis.

La Demande Residentielle D'eau, Ville de Saint-Laurent, 1978

Dans Ce Texte Nous Examinons a L'aide D'un Echantillon de 560 Menages et des Moindres Carrees Ordinaires les Determinants de la Consommation Residentielle D'eau a Ville Saint-Laurent (Quebec) En 1978. Nos Resultats Nous Indiquent Que L'evaluation Fonciere des Proprietes, le Nombre de Pieces Par Logement et la Taille du Menage Sont Trois Variables Qui Expliquent la Consommation D'eau de Menages Habitant des Residences Unifamiliales Ou des Logements Dans des Duplex, Triplex Ou Quadruplex. Nos Resultats Sont Similaires a Ceux D'etudes Americaines et a Ceux Obtenus Pour Ville Saint-Leonard (Quebec) En 1977.

Explaining the Great Divergence: Medium and Message on the Eurasian Land Mass, 1700-1850

Between 1700 and 1850, per-capita income doubled in Europe while falling in the rest of Eurasia. Neither geography nor economic institutions can explain this sudden divergence. Here the consequences of differences in communications technology are examined. For the first time, there appeared in Europe a combination of a standardized medium (national vernaculars with a phonetic alphabet) and a non-standardized message (competing religious, political and scientific ideas). The result was an unprecedented fall in the cost of combining ideas and burst of productivity-raising innovation. Elsewhere, decreasing standardization of the medium and increasing standardization of the message blocked innovation.

Directed Technical Change and International Trade

Recent changes in comparative advantage in the largest OECD economies differ significantly from the predictions of Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek theory. Japan's rising share of OECD machinery exports and the improvement in the comparative advantage of the USA and Germany in heavy industry were accompanied by growing scarcities of the factors used intensively in the favored sector of each country. Here we examine Acemoglu's (1998, 2002) hypothesis that technical change may be directed toward raising the marginal productivity of abundant factors. Testing this hypothesis with 1970-1992 export data from 14 OECD countries, we find evidence that international comparative advantage was reshaped by innovation biased toward the abundant factors in the largest economies.

Standardized Latin and Medieval Economic Growth

Traditional explanations for Western Europe's demographic growth in the High Middle Ages are unable to explain the rise in per-capita income that accompanied observed population changes. Here, we examine the hypothesis that an innovation in information technology changed the optimal structure of contracts and raised the productivity of human capital. We present historical evidence for this thesis, offer a theoretical explanation based on transaction costs, and test the theory's predictions with data on urban demographic growth. We find that the information-technology hypothesis significantly increases the capacity of the neoclassical growth model to explain European economic expansion between 1000 and 1300.

Yesterday’s Games: Contingency Learning and the Growth of Public Spending, 1890-1938

Neither democracy nor globalization can explain the doubling of the peacetime public share in many Western countries between World Wars I and II. Here we examine two other explanations that are consistent with the timing of the observed changes, namely, (1) a shift in the demand for public goods and (2) the effect of war on the willingness to share. We first model each of these approaches as a contingency-learning phenomenon within Schelling’s Multi-Person Dilemma. We then derive verifiable propositions from each hypothesis. National time series of public spending as a share of GNP reveal no unit root but a break in trend, a result shown to favor explanation (2) over (1).

The Dynamic Evolution of Factor Accumulations and Revealed Comparative Advantage in Canada.

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Impact de la réduction des tarifs douaniers canadiens dans le cadre de l'Accord de libre-échange entre le Canada et les États-Unis sur l'emploi dans les industries manufacturières de haute et basse technologie.

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The Rebirth of a Communications Network: Europe at the Time of the Carolingians.

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L'effet combiné de l'ouverture et de la taille du secteur public sur la croissance économique.

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Changement structurel en Haïti, une vérification empirique.

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Sujet : Les exportations et la performance de l'économie haïtienne (1967-1996).

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Les effets de l'accord du libre-échange nord-am��ricain au niveau de l'emploi manufacturier.

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Croissance néoclassique, croissance endogène et les technologies de l'information et des communications dans les villes aux États-Unis.

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La technologie de l’information et les avantages comparés dynamiques, le cas am��ricain.

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