Cruz A. Echevarría

• Doctor in Economics, Associate Professor
• University of the Basque Country

Macao was a Portuguese colony until 1999, when its sovereignty was transferred to China, initiating its integration process. This article attempts to estimate the consequences of this socio-economic process in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). We build a panel data set spanning 1970 to 2012, with 25 countries, setting 2000 as the in...

This paper analyzes the effects that the Arab Spring and the subsequent revolution had on per capita real Gross Domestic Product in Egypt. The estimation procedure that we follow is the synthetic control method. After comparing the observed evolution of Egyptian real output in the period 2011–2017 with that of synthetic Egypt, our estimates show (i...

This paper analyzes the effects that the 2012 VAT rise in Spain had on household’ demand for cultural goods and services. Household’ demands are modeled as a two-stage QUAIDS. After estimating price and expenditure elasticities, and the pass-through parameter associated with the reform, our results show that the individual welfare loss and the incr...

In 2011 a wave of revolutionary movements, the so-called Arab Spring, spread in the Middle East and North Africa. Libya was one of the most affected countries, ending Gaddafi’s dictatorship after an international intervention and a civil war. This paper assesses the effects that this revolution had on Libyan economy. The analysis is made by means o...

This paper analyses the effects that the 2012 VAT reform in Spain had on households' welfare, focusing on a major expenditure group: food and non-alcoholic beverages. Households' demands are modeled as a two-stage Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System, which is then estimated by means of a consistent two-step estimator introduced in Tauchmann () and...

We analyze the effects of capital income taxation on long-run growth in a stochastic, two-period overlapping generations economy with an aggregate AK technology. We distinguish between capital income and labor income, and between attitudes towards risk and intertemporal substitution of consumption. We show necessary and sufficient conditions such t...

This paper analyzes the effects of personal income tax progressivity on long-run economic growth, income inequality and social welfare. The quantitative implications of income tax progressivity increments are illustrated for the US economy under three main headings: individual effects (reduced labor supply and savings, and increased dispersion of t...

This note extends the Barro (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98 (1990), No. 5 part II, pp. S103–S125) model to a two‐period, OLG economy with aggregate uncertainty. We show that the government sizes maximizing average growth and individual welfare in a market economy coincide and are not affected by the introduction of uncertainty. The maximum a...

This paper analyzes the long-run growth-maximizing progressivity of income taxation in a standard two-period, overlapping generations model economy in which (i) there is aggregate uncertainty, (ii) attitudes towards risk and intertemporal substitution are considered apart, (iii) growth is driven by the accumulation of young individuals’ savings in...

This paper analyzes, firstly, the expected effects of social security reforms that have been implemented in Spain after 2004 (and, secondly, the expected effects of reductions in the minimum pension) on retirement decision and human capital accumulation (and hence on growth and on income inequality). Individuals in our model economy differ in their...

We analyze the effects of changes in the mortality rate upon life expectancy, education, retirement age, human capital and growth in the presence of social security. We build a vintage growth, overlapping generations model in which individuals choose the length of education and the age of retirement, and where unfunded social security pensions depe...

I analyze how changes in life expectancy affect retirement age, education time, and growth rates of economies. I set up a continuous time, overlapping generations model of endogenous growth with externalities in human capital production. I find that increases in life expectancy give rise to first, higher retirement ages and second, higher education...

In this paper we study the effect of population age distribution upon private consumption expenditure in Spain from 1964 to 1997 using aggregate data. We obtain four main results. First, changes in the population pyramid have substantial effects upon the behaviour of private consumption. Second, the pattern of the coefficients of the demographic va...

In this paper I address the links between life expectancy, retirement age and economic growth. I build a finite horizon OLG model with exogenous retirement in which human capital accumulation drives endogenous growth. The return on individual investment in human capital depends positively on the remaining active years. Postponing retirement age rai...

This paper discusses the long run effect of changes in the age distribution of Spanish population on the unemployment rate, disaggregated by sex and age segments in the light of cointegration theory given the non stationarity of the series. Four main results are obtained. First, empirical analysis does not provide a clear scheme concerning the long...

Published as an article in: Economic Inquiry, 2004, vol. 42, issue 4, pp. 602–617.

We address the issue ofcapital vs. labor income taxation in an overlapping generationsmodel with a positive externality in the human capital production.We compare the performance of the economy in the steady stateunder different tax policies. Three results are obtained. First,the size of the tax revenue required strongly affects the optimal(welfare...

In this paper we analyze how changes in life expectancy and re- tirement age may affect the optimal education length and the growth rates of economies. We set up a continuous time, overlapping genera- tions model of endogenous growth with externalities in the individual human capital production. We find that, first, postponing retirement age raises...

We build up this short note on the Nerlove et al. (1993) paper published in this journal. We identify a computational error in that paper regarding the results on welfare analysis.

We address the issue of income taxation in an overlapping generations model in which human capital accumulation has a positive externality. We compare the economy's performance in the steady state under different tax policies and life time horizons.

"In this paper I build a simple model to analyze the consequences that population growth imposes on the relative needs of expenditure of governments in a fiscal federalism setup. I assume, first, that some government expenditure items can be classified according to the age of their recipient individuals and, second, that different levels of governm...