Because of scale effects, idea-based growth models imply that larger countries should be much richer than smaller ones. New trade models share the same counterfactual feature. In fact, new trade models exhibit other counterfactual implications associated with scale effects: import shares decrease and relative income levels increase too steeply with country size. We argue that these implications are largely a result of the standard assumption that countries are fully integrated domestically.

We analyse the NOx gas emissions of different productive sectors in Spain. Using input–output analysis, we study all sectors as subsystems of the economy and classify them according to the explanatory factors of their total (direct and indirect) emissions. This classification provides guidance on the type of policies that should be developed in the different sectors with the aim of mitigating NOx emissions. Some sectors that seem less important when looking at their direct emissions turn out to be highly relevant in terms of their total emissions.

This report provides findings based on the Costa Rican experiences that are beneficial for countries around the world implementing Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes. In this report, it is noted that from 2000 to 2010, over 5 million hectares of forest were lost per year globally, with the agricultural sector contributing to an estimated 80% of this loss. As forests are lost, the knock-on economic, environmental, and social benefits of ecosystem services provided by forests are lost as well (e.g.

Insurance is a key element for farmers’ investment decisions, but only if the government clearly communicates that it cannot provide full debt relief to all.

This research examines the effect of farmers’ liability for debt on their demand for credit, with and without insurance. We test predictions of a theoretical model in a lab-in-the-field experiment with coffee farmers in Costa Rica.