The Intertemporal Approach to the Current Account: Evidence for Argentina

The Argentinean current account has exhibited large fluctuations over time. Sizable deficits over the last part of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th were followed by an almost equilibrated balance for most of the 20th century. Moderate deficits were again recorded between 1990 and 2002. Can factors highlighted by the intertemporal approach to the current account explain the dynamics of the Argentinean external sector for the 1885-2002 period? To answer this question we make use of a ...

Testing Williamson's Theory On Transaction-Specific Governance Structures: Evidence From Electricity Markets

Long term contracts increase the hazard of ex post maladaptation, creating demand for processes that enable adaptation over the course of long-term exchange. Enabling adaptation, however, may diminish the effectiveness of the long-term contracts, designed as prima facie hold-up remedies. Following Joskow (1987), we attempt to empirically capture the positive relationship between physical asset specificity and the duration of long-term contracts between California electricity generators. In ad...

Historical Legacy and Institutions Across Countries

Several recent theories postulate why some countries were able to devise institutions conducive to long-run economic growth whereas others were not. Most of these consider various historical factors or geographic characteristics as important predeterminants. But which of these theories comes closest to the truth? This paper simultaneously considers several competing theories and empirically examines which ones provide the strongest explanations for contemporary institutions. I find that settl...