Papers by Alexandra Lopes
Journal of Economic Issues, 2017
We relate technological adoption (of different technologies) with income inequality. We discovere... more We relate technological adoption (of different technologies) with income inequality. We discovered that some technologies such as aviation, cell phones, electric production, internet, telephone, and TV are skill-complementary in raising inequality. We constructed standardized indexes of skill-complementary technological adoption for modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), older ICT, production and transport technologies. We found strong evidence that older ICT and transport technologies (and less frequently modern ICT) tend to increase inequality. Additionally, we discovered that results are much stronger in rich countries than in poor ones. Our results are quite robust to a series of changes in specifications, estimators, samples, and measurement of technology adoption. These results may bring insights to the design of incentive-schemes for technology adoption.
Prague Economic Papers, 2014
The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland are set to join the Economic and Monetary Union(EMU) in t... more The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland are set to join the Economic and Monetary Union(EMU) in the near future. This paper offers a framework for the quantitative evaluation of theeconomic costs of joining the EMU. Using an open economy dynamic general equilibrium modelwith sticky prices, we investigate the economic implications of the loss of monetary policy flexibility associated with EMU for each of these economies. The main benefit of this general equilibrium approach is that we can directly evaluate the effects of monetary policy in terms of welfare. Our findings suggest that the Czech Republic and Poland may experience sizable welfare costs as a result of joining the EMU. Results for Hungary are less striking as welfare costs in this country seem to be negligible in the benchmark economy. Nevertheless, costs of joining the EMU are higher if government shocks are important and when the trade share with the EMU is small.
Journal of Business Economics and Management, 2013
We introduce social capital in an endogenous growth model with physical capital, human capital, a... more We introduce social capital in an endogenous growth model with physical capital, human capital, and research and development (R&D), and we compare the market with the efficient solutions. As social capital is not tradable in the market and since it favours research networks, it introduces new externalities in this framework. These externalities induce the market to invest less in social capital than would a social planner and decrease the tendency to underinvestment in R&D. We quantify the distortions in the model. In some conditions, the new distortions are strong enough to overcome the usual result of underinvestment in R&D.
A fruitful recent theoretical literature has related human capital and technological development ... more A fruitful recent theoretical literature has related human capital and technological development with income (and wages) inequality. However, empirical assessments on the relationship are still scarce. We relate human capital and total factor productivity (TFP) with inequality and discover that, when countries are assumed as heterogeneous and dependent cross-sections, human capital is the most robust determinant of inequality, contributing to increase inequality, as predicted by theory. There is evidence of great heterogeneity on the effects of TFP and Openness across countries. These new empirical results open a wide avenue for theoretical research on the country-specific features conditioning the causal relationship from human capital, technology and trade to inequality.
Economic Record, 2017
A fruitful recent theoretical literature has related human capital and technological development ... more A fruitful recent theoretical literature has related human capital and technological development with income (and wages) inequality. However, empirical assessments on the relationship are still scarce. We relate human capital and total factor productivity (TFP) with inequality and discover that, when countries are assumed as heterogeneous and dependent cross-sections, human capital is the most robust determinant of inequality, contributing to increase inequality, as predicted by theory. There is evidence of great heterogeneity on the effects of TFP and Openness across countries. These new empirical results open a wide avenue for theoretical research on the country-specific features conditioning the causal relationship from human capital, technology and trade to inequality.
We analyse the implications of public debt on economic growth and inflation in a group of 52 Afri... more We analyse the implications of public debt on economic growth and inflation in a group of 52 African economies between 1950 and 2012. The results indicate that the limits of public debt affect economic growth and exhibit negatively, from a given level of debt, an inverted U behaviour regarding the relationship between economic growth and public debt. The highest average rates of real and per capita growth are achieved when public debt reaches 60% of the real GDP and an average inflation rate of 8.2%. When this ratio falls between 60-90%, the average rate of economic growth drops by up to 1.32 p.p. and continues dropping by up to 1.64 p.p. when the ratio exceeds 90%. Briefly, the high levels of public debt are reflected in reduced rates of economic growth and rising levels of inflation. Our results for three specific geographical areas resemble those of the overall analysis, despite some differences. In North African countries, the growth rates of the GDP and inflation also show an inverted U behaviour as the ratio of public debt/GDP increases. The highest rate of economic growth is recorded when the ratio public debt/GDP is below 30% of GDP and corresponds to an average inflation rate of 5.33%. Identical behaviour of the GDP growth rates and inflation also appears in Sub-Saharan countries until the third interval (60-90%). However, the highest growth rate of the GDP and GDP per capita is registered when the public debt/GDP ratio is in the second interval (30-60%). For SADC countries, the highest average rate of economic growth (6.8%) is similar to North African countries, when the ratio public debt/GDP is below 30% of GDP, with an average inflation rate of 11%. The high level of public debt is reflected in reduced rates of economic growth and increasing inflation rates.
Despite the very few studies regarding FDI in Portuguese regions-especially regarding its effects... more Despite the very few studies regarding FDI in Portuguese regions-especially regarding its effects-FDI can be an important catalyst for regional economic development and growth. This work studies the existing FDI in the Portuguese regions, analysing its distribution by NUTS III, the sectors in which FDI has more weight in each region, as well as it evolution between 1986 and 2009. Over the years analysed, the results show an increase in the number of firms with FDI in Portugal, although their relative weight remained constant. At the same time, these firms spread to all regions of the country, besides the main economic and services agglomerations (Lisboa and Porto). The regions attracted not only FDI for the sectors in which they have already been specialized, but also for other activities, diversifying the regional productive structure. The increase and diversification of FDI coincided with the tertiarisation of the economy, approaching the totality of the productive specialization of the country, while continuing to focus on manufacturing.
The Welfare Cost of the EMU for Transition Countries
Ecological Economics, 2010
Models of economic growth are typically based on the use of one or more stocks of productive asse... more Models of economic growth are typically based on the use of one or more stocks of productive assets that are drawn upon to create goods for utility-generating consumption. The role of natural resources or, more generally, environmental assets has been thoroughly analysed by ...
cefage.uevora.pt
∗UBI and INOVA, UNL. Corresponding Author: Tiago Neves Sequeira. Management and Eco-nomics Depart... more ∗UBI and INOVA, UNL. Corresponding Author: Tiago Neves Sequeira. Management and Eco-nomics Department. Universidade da Beira Interior. Estrada do Sineiro, 6200-209 Covilha, Portugal. email: sequeira@ubi.pt. Tiago Neves Sequeira acknowledges the ...
The Flexibility of Portuguese Study Plans as a Consequence of the Bologna Process on Economics Undergraduate Majors: a Comparison with Europe
Centro, 2005
Page 1. A flexibilidade das estruturas curriculares portuguesas enquanto implicação do Processo d... more Page 1. A flexibilidade das estruturas curriculares portuguesas enquanto implicação do Processo de Bolonha nas licenciaturas em Economia: uma comparação com a Europa ISCTE INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE CIÊNCIAS DO TRABALHO E DA EMPRESA 1 ...
We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the ex... more We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the exponential discounting and the quasi-hyperbolic discounting cases as particular speci…cations. The suggested framework intends to capture one important anomaly typically found when addressing the way agents discount the future, namely the evidence pointing to the prevalence of decreasing impatience. The referred anomaly can be perceived as a bias relatively to what would be a benchmark exponential discounting setting, and is modeled as such. The general discounting framework is used to address a standard optimal growth model in discrete time. Transitional dynamics and stability properties of the corresponding dynamic setup are studied. An extension of the standard growth model to the case of habit persistence is also considered.
We compare the undergraduate Economics majors and their underlying structure in the top-ranked Ec... more We compare the undergraduate Economics majors and their underlying structure in the top-ranked Economics departments of Europe and the USA, identifying the fundamental courses included in an Economics major in top-ranked universities. We further distinguish between those courses that are required and those that are usually offered as electives, finding striking differences between Europe and the USA, especially regarding the nature of the main electives offered.The insights from this comparative study may be useful for the ongoing restructuring of undergraduate Economics majors in European countries caused by the Bologna Process.
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Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, 2015
Journal of Economics, 2013
We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the ex... more We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the exponential discounting and the quasi-hyperbolic discounting cases as particular speci…cations. The suggested framework intends to capture one important anomaly typically found when addressing the way agents discount the future, namely the evidence pointing to the prevalence of decreasing impatience. The referred anomaly can be perceived as a bias relatively to what would be a benchmark exponential discounting setting, and is modeled as such. The general discounting framework is used to address a standard optimal growth model in discrete time. Transitional dynamics and stability properties of the corresponding dynamic setup are studied. An extension of the standard growth model to the case of habit persistence is also considered.
Journal of Economics, 2013
We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the ex... more We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the exponential discounting and the quasi-hyperbolic discounting cases as particular speci…cations. The suggested framework intends to capture one important anomaly typically found when addressing the way agents discount the future, namely the evidence pointing to the prevalence of decreasing impatience. The referred anomaly can be perceived as a bias relatively to what would be a benchmark exponential discounting setting, and is modeled as such. The general discounting framework is used to address a standard optimal growth model in discrete time. Transitional dynamics and stability properties of the corresponding dynamic setup are studied. An extension of the standard growth model to the case of habit persistence is also considered.
Os ciclos económicos nos países pertencentes à União Europeia: breve comparação do comportamento cíclico dos Estados Membros
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Papers by Alexandra Lopes