New Research

China is aiming to become a technological innovation powerhouse by 2050, with Premier Li Keqiang recently announcing an increase in R&D investments by 7 percent for the next five years. But greater R&D investment is no guarantee of success. New research by Kjetil Storesletten and co-authors examines the effects of R&D investments by Chinese firms on aggregate productivity and growth.

Congratulations to Professor Tim Kehoe and Juan Pablo Nicolini, senior research economist at the Minneapolis Fed, on the publication of A Monetary and Fiscal History of Latin America, 1960-2017 from University of Minnesota Press. Bringing together dozens of leading economists, the book takes a comprehensive look at six decades of macroeconomic policies across the region, exploring the economic performance of the ten largest countries in South America and of Mexico. The project that culminated in the book's publication was launched in 2013 at the Becker-Friedman Institute. The Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute is proud to have provided support for the project. Read more about the book and order a copy

Building on a body of research that establishes a clear connection between increases in productivity and the use of professional managers to create business strategies and monitor production, Hannes Malmberg explores how developing economies struggle to grow because of peculiarities in the development of the market for professional salaried managers. Read about his research into "The Missing Middle Managers."

Congratulations to Professor Manuel Amador, along with Mark Aguiar of Princeton University, on the publication of The Economics of Sovereign Debt and Default from Princeton University Press. The authors provide a unified and tractable theoretical framework that elucidates the key economics behind sovereign debt markets, shedding light on the frictions and inefficiencies that prevent the smooth functioning of these markets. Read more about the book and order a copy.

In the US, the bachelor’s attainment rate of high socioeconomic status White youth is much higher than that of Hispanic, Black, and low-socioeconomic status youth. This is true even among students with high academic ability scorers. For high-scorers, how much of these gaps in bachelor’s attainment can be explained by differences in subjective beliefs about own academic ability? Doctoral student Sergio Barrera used his own experience as a first-generation college student to inform his job market paper, "Is College Worth It For Me? Beliefs, Access to Funding, and Inequality in Higher Education."