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on Post Keynesian Economics |
| By: | Alberto Botta |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present a Balance-of-Payments (BoP)-constrained center-periphery growth model extended for the inclusion of international finance and the accumulation of external debt. With respect to previous works in this stream of literature, we show how the long-run BoP-constrained growth rate changes endogenously alongside the evolution of periphery’s external position. We describe a complex non-linear system that may feature multiple equilibria with different stability properties. A stable equilibrium characterized by high long-run BoP-constrained growth and low external indebtedness is paired with a saddle-path unstable one in which a more fragile external position associates with lower growth. We also show that periods of (temporary) financial “bonanza”, i.e., surges in foreign capital pouring into the economy, may modify the long-run growth trajectory of the periphery and its overall macro stability. Financial bonanza can boost economic growth in the short term. However, it can also give rise to tougher debt service payments and possibly lead to cases of premature de-industrialization. Despite short-term benefits, the periphery may well get worse off in the long run. If the financial boom is strong and protracted enough, it can even generate radical instability driving the periphery towards default on external debt. In the final part of the paper, we discuss the policy implications of the model, namely the role of capital controls as part of a broader development strategy aimed at taming finance-led instability and boosting structural change in the periphery. |
| Keywords: | External constraint; international capital; financial bonanza; premature de-industrialization |
| JEL: | E12 F43 F62 O11 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2601 |
| By: | Nicolò Bellanca |
| Abstract: | Why is sustained, adaptive development so rare despite decades of institutional reform, industrial policy, macroeconomic stabilization and innovation strategies? This paper advances a structural explanation. It defines generative development as a process that is simultaneously endogenous, cumulative, structurally irreversible and transformatively adaptive, and argues that sustaining these four properties requires four irreducible causal functions: Collective Action (A), Production (P), Stabilization (S) and Redefinition of Goals (F). The core claim is that the joint reproduction of these functions through a configuration of functional causal closure provides a necessary structural condition for sustaining development as a self-reinforcing and adaptive historical process. No dyadic or triadic subset of these functions is structurally sufficient to reproduce all four constitutive properties at once. Partial closures may generate growth, learning, institutional reform or strategic direction, but they remain intrinsically fragile and structurally exposed to stagnation, crisis or lock-in. The paper offers a unified structural reinterpretation of institutional, evolutionary, developmental state and mission-oriented approaches as partial theories of distinct development functions. It also derives a typology of development regimes as systematic configurations of partial and full functional closure. A minimal dynamic representation presented in the Online Supplement illustrates the internal consistency of the argument. Overall, the paper reframes development as a problem of causal architecture rather than factor accumulation, with direct implications for development theory, industrial policy, institutional reform, mission-oriented strategies and comparative historical research. |
| Keywords: | Generative development; Structural transformation; Industrial policy; Institutions and development; Mission-oriented policies |
| JEL: | O10 O25 P16 O33 O43 B52 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2025_23.rdf |
| By: | Alejandro Corvalan |
| Abstract: | Economists often define the middle class based on income distribution, yet selecting which segment constitutes the `middle' is essentially arbitrary. This paper proposes a definition of the middle class based solely on the properties of income distribution. It argues that for a collection of unequal societies, the poor and rich extremes of the distribution unambiguously worsen or improve their respective income shares with inequality. In contrast, such an effect is moderated at the center. I define the middle class as the segment of the income distribution whose income shares are insensitive to changes in inequality. This unresponsiveness property allows one to single out, endogenously and with minimal arbitrariness, the location of the middle class. The paper first provides a theoretical argument for the existence of such a group. It then uses detailed percentile data from the World Income Database (WID) to empirically characterize the world middle class: a group skewed toward the upper part of the distribution - comprising much of the affluent population below the very rich - with stable borders over time and across countries. The definition aligns with the prevailing view in political economy of the middle class as as a moderating actor, given their null incentives to engage in distributive conflict. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.23523 |
| By: | Lorde, Troy; Pilgrim, George; Hippolyte, Antonius |
| Abstract: | This article explores the relationship between tourism development and the colonial legal inheritance of Barbados. While tourism is routinely framed as the island’s post-independence success story, the statutory regime that governs it tells a more complicated tale. Drawing on a critical legal-historical approach, the paper traces how legislation—from the Hotel Aids Act of 1956 to the Tourism Development Act of 2002 and the long-standing Land Acquisition Act—preserves the priorities and hierarchies of the plantation economy. These laws extend advantages to foreign investors, facilitate land dispossession and entrench patterns of dependency that echo earlier forms of colonial rule. By situating these statutes within broader debates on the “coloniality of law”, the analysis shows how political independence left intact a legal imagination more attuned to property, order and external capital than to equity or community empowerment. The article concludes by outlining elements of a decolonial legal strategy that centres collective rights, environmental stewardship and democratic participation in the design of future tourism policy. |
| Keywords: | coloniality of law; tourism development; savings law clause; plantation economy; legal continuity |
| JEL: | K10 N96 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127400 |
| By: | Marcelo Caffera; Alejandro Lopez-Feldman |
| Abstract: | We describe the main insights from the papers included in this special issue, Challenges for the Development of Latin America in the Anthropocene: Current Research in Environmental Economics. The contributions are organized around three themes: the economic and welfare impacts of temperature variability, the role of institutions and user rights in shaping environmental governance, and the effectiveness of regulatory instruments for managing ambient and atmospheric pollution. Together, these papers show that environmental outcomes in Latin America are deeply shaped by institutional capacity, governance quality, and social inequality. By combining rigorous empirical analysis with attention to local contexts, they demonstrate how environmental economics can inform policy responses to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. |
| Keywords: | Latin America; climate impacts; governance and institutions; environmental regulation; pollution; climate change |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnt:wpaper:2513 |
| By: | Honey, Ummey; Cuffey, Joel; Hartarska, Valentina |
| Abstract: | Access to financial services is fundamental to economic stability and inclusion, yet many low-income and historically marginalized communities in the United States remain underserved. While alternative financial services (AFS), such as check cashers, payday lenders, pawnshops, rent-to-own stores, and auto title lenders provide short-term credit, they often charge high fees and interest rates hindering asset accumulation. A growing body of research suggests that the distribution of AFS providers is not random but instead reflects underlying socioeconomic and racial patterns. This study investigates whether the spatial distribution of AFS providers today aligns with the discriminatory neighborhood grading established by the Homeowners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s. HOLC’s color-coded maps rated neighborhoods from “A” (best) to “D” (hazardous), with “D” areas often inhabited by racial minorities systematically denied credit, a practice later termed as “redlining.” We use a Geographic Regression Discontinuity Design to compare the density of AFS outlets across boundaries between differently graded HOLC neighborhoods. In this study, we combine digitized HOLC maps for 200 cities with location data for AFS outlets and socioeconomic data from the American Community Survey, we find that AFS outlets are disproportionately clustered in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods and suggests persistent spatial disparities rooted in historical redlining. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:361126 |
| By: | Banzhaf, H. Spencer; Mathews, William; Walsh, Randall |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between racial segregation and environmental equity in Pittsburgh from 1910 to 1940. Utilizing newly digitized historical data on the spatial distribution of air pollution in what was likely America’s most polluted city, we analyze how racial disparities in exposure to air pollution evolved during this period of heightening segregation. Our findings reveal that black residents experi- enced significantly higher levels of pollution compared to their white counterparts, and this disparity increased over time. We identify within-city moves as a critical factor exacerbating this inequity, with black movers facing increased pollution expo- sure. In contrast, European immigrants, who were also initially exposed to relatively high levels of pollution, experience declining exposure as they assimilate over this time period. We also provide evidence of the capitalization of air pollution into hous- ing markets. Taken as a whole, our results underscore the importance of considering environmental factors in discussions of racial and economic inequalities. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2024–10–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cenrep:347603 |
| By: | Niessen-Ruenzi, Alexandra; Mueden, Vanessa; Zimmerer, Leah |
| Abstract: | Women are significantly less likely to participate in the stock market than men. We show that financial socialization plays an important role in explaining this gap. Survey data from Germany and the U.S. indicate that parents discuss financial matters less frequently with their daughters than with their sons. Women also report fewer financial role models and less exposure to peers who invest in the stock market. We find that this early-life difference in financial socialization leads to lower financial literacy and lower financial confidence of women later in life, and also explains why they are less likely to participate in the stock market than men. |
| Keywords: | Gender investment gap, Financial socialization, Financial literacy, Stock market participation |
| JEL: | G11 G41 G53 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:333902 |