The Ben-Porath (1967) model suggests that a rise in life expectancy, and the associated rise in the lifetime labor input, brings about a rise in investment in human capital. We incorporate the leisure decision into the model and develop a necessary condition regarding the lifetime labor input for the Ben-Porath mechanism to have a positive effect on investment in human capital. We show that thi...

T ourism is one of the most invaluable industries in the world, attracting millions of foreign tourists every year. In terms of historical and cultural attractions, Iran is among top 10 countries, however, it has a small share of foreign tourist's arrival. Iran's tourism boom depends on providing the suitable conditions for the arrival of tourists, included service elements (i.e. hot...

Using a new dataset on imports of technology and total factor productivity (TFP) over more than a century for the OECD countries, this paper tests for international technological transmission through trade. The empirical estimates suggest that imports of knowledge have been responsible for an almost 200% increase in TFP over the past century, but that the spillover effect has been highly uneven...

The statistical properties of the efficiency estimators based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are largely unknown. Recent work by Simar et al. and Banker has shown the consistency of the DEA estimators under specific assumptions, and Banker proposes asymptotic tests of whether two subsamples have the same efficiency distribution. There are difficulties arising from bias in small samples and ...

this paper presents a data envelopment analysis (dea) model combined with bootstrapping to assess performance of one of the data mining algorithms. we applied a two-step process for performance productivity analysis of insurance branches within a case study. first, using a dea model, the study analyzes the productivity of eighteen decision-making units (dmus). using a malmquist index, dea deter...

This paper looks at the convergence clubs literature from a Schumpeterian perspective, and it follows the idea that cross-country differences in the ability to innovate and to imitate foreign technologies determine the existence of clustering, polarization and convergence clubs. The study investigates the characteristics of different technology clubs and the growth trajectories that they have f...

This paper explores whether the post-1980 decline in infrastructure investment in developing countries is a source of growing disparities in world per capita GDP. I start by reviewing the literature on the infrastructure-productivity link, arguing that a balanced reading of previous studies points to a significant effect of infrastructure provision on productivity. I then empirically study whet...

Using a new dataset on imports of technology and total factor productivity (TFP) over more than a century for the OECD countries, this paper tests for international technological transmission through trade. The empirical estimates suggest that imports of knowledge have been responsible for an almost 200% increase in TFP over the past century, but that the spillover effect has been highly uneven...

 Given that improvement in efficiency is a major resource to economic development, this can be applied to each domestic sector of an economy. The objective of this paper is to measure technical efficiency of the Iranian Post Company across the country’s provinces using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The ranking of technical efficiency has been calculated by using collected data on post offi...