In this paper we show that bank competition has an intrinsically ambiguous impact on capital accumulation. We further show that it is also responsible for the emergence of development traps in economies that otherwise would be characterized by unique equilibria. These results explain the...

Greece’s currently planned institutional reforms will help to get the country going with limited economic growth. With an economy based primarily on tourism, trade, and agriculture, Greece lacks an established competitive industry and an innovation-friendly environment, resulting in a low...

The Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) sector has been growing in the US in the recent decades. KIBS are used to overcome the information friction between intermediate inputs and the input users that is generated by technology improvement. We use a Schumpeterian growth model with...

Poland’s productivity has grown strongly over the past decade, and efforts to reduce the regulatory burden have been significant. Despite impressive progress, product market regulation remains more burdensome than in most OECD countries, partly due to the importance of red tape and the level...

This paper examines how import penetration affects firms' productivity growth taking into account the heterogeneity in firms' distance to the efficiency frontier and country differences in product market regulation. Using firm-level data for a large number of OECD countries, the analysis reveals...

Three components govern the impact of intangible management on the growth of SMEs: human, structural and relational capitals. The relationship with the institutional system of innovation (ISI) is novel. The results highlight that the ISI does not satisfy the needs of SMEs fully.

Mexico has embarked on a bold package of structural reforms that will help it to break away from three decades of slow growth and low productivity. Major structural measures have been legislated to improve competition, education, energy, the financial sector, labour, infrastructure and the tax...

Over the past decade, France has substantially eased the burden of anti-competitive regulations and effectively enforced competition law against anti-competitive practices. Various sectors have been opened up more widely to competition, and the powers of the Competition Authority have been...

Can stock market bubbles accelerate long term growth? Do such bubbles indicate irrational behavior? This paper studies the effect of innovation uncertainty on the concomitant time path of firm valuations, technology adoption and growth in a setting that incorporates positive network...

This paper discusses the current state of product market competition in Iceland, including the legal and regulatory framework, and suggests directions for further improvement. Given the size of the economy, efficiency considerations dictate high concentration in many markets, and preventing...