Essays in macroeconomics and development (Argentina, Canada)

This thesis consists of three essays on macroeconomics and development. The objective of these essays is to contribute to a better understanding of why income levels and price levels differ across countries. The common approach adopted throughout this thesis is to use quantitative general equilibrium models and data to assess the impact of the factors proposed in the theories.; The first essay finds that the margin of the consumer over the producer price for agricultural goods is much higher in rich countries than in poor, and shows that differences in the productivities of the distribution and the agricultural sectors can account for these disparities.; The second essay shows that there are large differences in transportation infrastructure density across countries and studies the role that these differences play in explaining the disparities in income levels, by altering the sectoral composition of output. A policy implication of the analysis is that poor countries could benefit much more from improvements in their transportation networks than rich countries.; The third essay studies why Argentina is not as rich as Canada is today, given that they started off very similarly in the 19th century. I show that at a proximate level persistent distortionary policies can explain why Argentina entered the era of modern growth later than Canada and why this process has been slow. At a more fundamental level I argue that differences in the distribution of land ownership (more concentrated in Argentina) between the two countries early in their histories, can explain why the landed elite was successful in erecting barriers to industrialization in Argentina but not in Canada.