Evaluation of Sustainable Economic Growth in Portuguese Agriculture and Other Sectors

Abstract

In this study the objective is to analyze the demographic, scientific, and social sustainability of the economic growth in Portuguese sectors, namely in the following: agriculture, forestry, and fishing; industry (except construction); manufacturing; construction; wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation, and food service activities; information technology and communication; financial and insurance activities, real estate activities, and professional, scientific, and technical activities; administrative and support services; public administration and defense; compulsory social security, education, human health, and social work activities; arts, entertainment, and recreation; repair of household goods; and other services. To achieve these aims data was considered from the Portuguese NUTs II (seven), obtained from Eurostat, over the period 1995–2010. Analysis of this data was performed by taking into account econometric techniques, namely the fixed and random effects panel data methods, with an economic growth model built considering the second law of Kaldor and extended by variables related to sustainability such as the population density, life expectancy, number of doctors in medicine, human resources in science and technology, and infant mortality rate. The conclusions obtained show that the economic growth in Portugal (at NUTs II level) is somewhat dependent upon factors related to sustainability.