Economic Growth Literature Research Articles

The dynamics of capital accumulation in Marx and Solow

This paper deals with issues arising in Solow's growth model when contrasted with Marx's schemes of expanded reproduction. More specifically, we argue that Solow's growth model lacks the crucial dynamic features of capital accumulation derived from the long-term movement of the rate of profit, which are well integrated in classical political economy. Classical economists discussed the attainment of the stationary state of the economy as a result of a falling rate of profit eliminating net investment. In Solow's growth model, however, the seemingly stationary state is proved to be a ‘saddle’ point, an aspect that has not received appropriate attention in the extant economic growth literature. By contrast, in Marx's analysis of absolute overaccumulation resulting from the falling profit rate the system is driven to a turning point and the conditions for major institutional changes that may lead to a new period of economic expansion are set.

The effect of regulatory performance on economic growth

The tendency to fall into a middle-income trap position due to weak regulatory performance remains a longstanding issue faced by the majority of upper-middle-income economies (UMIE). Although regulatory performance is considered as one of the most vital factors that determine the financial progression and stability of a nation, this variable is often overlooked in previous economic growth literature. Hence, this study aims to examine the important role of regulatory performance in accelerating the economic growth of 30 upper-middle-income economies countries within the timeframe of 2000 to 2018. Using the two-step system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM), the findings reported that regulatory performance is indeed essential in stimulating economic growth. The results also indicated that lengthy procedures and waiting period involved in opening and registering new businesses are a common predicament for start-up firms. This proves to be a demotivating factor for new investors, indirectly slowing down the economic performance of the UMIE. As this study leads to various policy implications, future studies can consider advancing research in this area by further examining the link between regulatory performances and economic growth for individual countries based on a time series analysis.

Separating yolk from white: a filter based on economic properties of trend and cycle

This paper proposes a new filter technique to separate trend and cycle based on stylised economic properties of trend and cycle, rather than relying on ad hoc statistical properties such as frequency. Given the theoretical separation between economic growth and business cycle literature, it is necessary to make the measures of trend and cycle match what the respective theories intend to explain. The proposed filter is applied to the long macroeconomic data collected by the Bank of England (1700-2015).

The Effect of Regulatory Performance on Economic Growth

The World Bank Group (2018b) announced that the upper-middle-income economies (UMIE) tend to fall into a middle-income trap position for a long period. This usually happens when countries are not progressing economically at a promising rate and are unable to catch up with the developmental pace of high-income economies (HIE). One of the main contributing factors to this situation is the weak regulatory performance of these countries. Since the regulatory environment in these countries were far from conducive, businesses were reluctant to start up or even operate there. When this happens, UMIE will find it even more difficult to move up from their current economic level as most investors would already be disinterested to invest in a country whose economy is stagnated¬¬¬. Based on these arguments, regulatory performance is considered as one of the most vital factors that determine the financial progression and stability of a nation. Nevertheless, this variable is often overlooked in previous economic growth literature. Hence, this study aims to examine the important role of regulatory performance in accelerating the economic growth of 30 upper-middle-income economies countries within the timeframe of 2000 to 2018. Keywords: middle-income trap, upper-middle-income economies, regulatory performance, economic growth, system GMM

Structural Change in Multisector Monopolistic Competition Model

We present a natural generalization of the Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistic competition model (DSM) — we assume that there is a continuum of industries, each of them described as in DSM, and each characterized with its own elasticity of substitution. Although firms in all industries share the same level of productivity and costs, exogenous technological progress leads to non-trivial reallocations of labor and production to industries with lower elasticities of substitution. Thus the model, despite is simplicity and the absence of additional assumptions about industry structure, generates the structural changes described in the economic growth literature.

The devil is in the details: Capital stock estimation and aggregate productivity growth—An application to the Spanish economy

The variables that contribute to explaining the major puzzles and paradoxes in macroeconomics and economic growth literature always appear related, directly or indirectly, to capital stock and depreciation. Depreciation defined in a narrow sense refers only to physical wear and tear, but in a broader sense, it also includes economic deterioration and obsolescence. In this study, we explore the link between the two depreciation concepts of capital deepening and total factor productivity (TFP) growth. We propose a double growth accounting framework that allows us to establish a relationship between variables in statistical terms and variables in economic terms. Then, with Spanish data for 1964–2015, we first analyze the role played by capital intensity and TFP in explaining the evolution of labor productivity. The results are substantially different depending on whether we use statistical or economic measures of capital and depreciation. Second, we focus on the paradox of productivity, concluding that the apparent absence of a positive correlation between investment in information and communication technology and the TFP growth rate may be due to the delay effect associated with such investment combined with the statistical under-estimation of true economic depreciation.

Separating yolk from white: a filter based on economic properties of trend and cycle

This paper proposes a new filter technique to separate trend and cycle based on stylised economic properties of trend and cycle, rather than relying on ad hoc statistical proper-ties such as frequency. Given the theoretical separation between economic growth and business cycle literature, it is necessary to make the measures of trend and cycle match what the respective theories intend to explain. The proposed filter is applied to the long macroeconomic data collected by the Bank of England (1700-2015).

Is a sustainable loop of economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem possible? a structural perspective

Is region-level entrepreneurial ecosystem valid in emerging markets? What is the mechanism between entrepreneurial ecosystem elements? Is region-level entrepreneurial ecosystem in emerging markets economic-promoting? An endogenous growth model with labor-preference technologic progress is introduced to interpret the interactions between entrepreneurial ecosystem layers and growth; besides, a panel vector auto-regression model based on Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2016 is used to test. Accordingly, we empirically prove the possibility of entrepreneurial ecosystem achieving sustainable development at the scope of Chinese provinces. However, several specific situations should be avoided, including (1) a too-low relative human capital return, (2) a too-low poor-conditions-led transaction efficiency, and (3) a too-low human-capital-stock-determined technology. Thus, short-term tolerance and continuous promoting efforts are necessary. By doing so, we contribute to the literature of region-level entrepreneurial ecosystem and economic growth, or to say the fields of institutional economics, regional economics, and development economics.

The judiciary system as a productivity factor; the European experience

The European Union has emphatically declared its commitment towards reforming the judicial system on its region, promoting social cohesion. We extend this scope, by evaluating the potential relationship between the effectiveness of the judicial system and economic growth. Based on a panel dataset of 22 EU countries over the period 2010–2017 and under the lens of the economic growth literature, we find that even marginally the judicial system could be considered as a part of the social capital of Hall and Jones (1999) that supports productivity.

Electoral systems and economic growth

Electoral systems are rules through which votes translate into seats in parliament. The political economy literature tells us that alternative electoral systems can generate different distributions of power among different social groups in the legislature and therefore lead to different equilibrium economic policies. On the other hand, we know from the endogenous economic growth literature that economic policy can affect growth. What the literature is lacking is a clear link between electoral systems and economic growth. The main objective of this paper is to establish a connection between them. Two main results emerge from our model. First, electoral systems matter for economic growth. Second, the way in which they matter is not straightforward. A precise ranking of these political institutions in terms of economic growth requires the knowledge of the distribution of people among different social classes in society.

The role of institutional quality and human capital for economic growth across Chinese provinces – a dynamic panel data approach

ABSTRACT There is an ongoing debate within the economic growth and development literature whether institutions or human capital are more important for economic growth. We add further arguments to this discussion by focusing on a particular country, namely China. China is an interesting case study since it is often regarded as an exception by having achieved miraculous growth for more than three decades despite relatively low institutional quality. We employ a dynamic panel data model to analyze the role of improvements in institutional quality and human capital accumulation for the economic success of a province in China over the period 2003 to 2007. Using system GMM estimation, we find that while growth in human capital fosters economic growth all over China, only coastal provinces record a positive effect of institutional improvements on the growth rate of per capita income.

The hydroelectricity consumption and economic growth in Asian countries - evidence using an asymmetric cointegration approach

ABSTRACT This study examines the four commonly tested hypotheses in hydroelectricity consumption – economic growth literature for 12 Asian countries. Our results from a recently developed hidden cointegration technique uncover rich and significant relationships between negative and positive components of the variables under consideration. In particular, we find evidence to support the neutrality hypothesis in five countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, and Thailand), the growth hypothesis in four countries (India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan), and both growth and conservation hypotheses in three countries (China, Malaysia, and New Zealand). These findings suggest that appropriate economic policies should be elaborated on the basis of the country’s specific hydroelectricity consumption–growth nexus. Finally, our new evidence suggests that the lack of stable relationship between hydroelectricity consumption and economic growth documented in previous studies for some of these countries could be due to the failure to properly account for the nonlinearity property in the data.

Social Capital, Endogenous Labor Supply, and Economic Development

Social capital has been increasingly recognized as an important determinant of economic growth in the literature of economic growth. Nevertheless, there are only a few rigorous dynamic growth models which explicitly deal with dynamic interdependence between social capital, physical capital, and economic structure. The purpose of this study is to incorporate social capital in a neoclassical economic growth theory. We propose a dynamic model with interdependence between economic structural change, wealth accumulation, and social capital accumulation. Social capital positively affects total factor productivities and is accumulated through investment, leisure activities, and production. We simulate the model. The study focuses on effects of changes in some parameters on the equilibrium and transitional processes of the economic dynamics. We get some insights through including social capital in economic growth modelling. For instance, if society has lower trust (possibly if we interpret social capital as guanxi in Chinese societies) which results in a rise in depreciation rate of social capital, the economy suffers from falling social capital, productivities, national capital, and national output; consumers have lower income, wealth, and consumption; they also have to spend more time on investing in social capital.

Nexus between Foreign Remittances and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Role of the Financial Sector

In recent times, the economic growth literature is becoming more interested in the macroeconomic impacts of foreign remittances. This focus could be because foreign remittances now constitute the largest source of foreign capital flows for developing countries next to foreign direct investment (FDI). To this end, the present study analyzed the possible role of the financial sector in the nexus between foreign remittances and economic growth in Nigeria over the period of 1981 to 2015. To circumvent the possible endogeneity problem among foreign remittances, financial development and economic growth, we employed the two-stage least squares (2SLS) technique. Unlike the previous findings, we offered new evidence that the complementarity or substitutability between foreign remittances and financial development in promoting Nigeria’s economic growth depends on the indicators of financial development used. We confirmed the complementary hypothesis in the case of the quantitative indicators of financial development, while we validated the substitutability hypothesis in favour of its qualitative measure. Both migrant workers and their beneficiaries should be encouraged to make use of banks so that foreign remittances could be made available to finance genuine investments. This could be possibly achieved through boosting the confidence of migrant workers in the domestic financial system and by raising the deposit rate so as to entice the beneficiaries to save a large chunk of remittances received.

Determinants of Recent Economic Growth in Ethiopia

This study tried to identify the major sources of recent economic growth in Ethiopia for the last thirty three years starting from the year 1980 up to 2013. The study has been under taken with the use of both econometric and descriptive analysis techniques and various diagnostic tests like stationary test (by using augmented dicky-fuller test), multicollinearity test by using vif test), heteroscedasticity test (by using Breusch-pagan test), omitted variable (by using ov-test) both in the lung-run and short-run effect of independent variables on dependent variable. In addition, tables, figures and graphs were used. The study employed time series data for both the dependent (RGDP) and independent variables. The explanatory variables including domestic investment, labor force growth, real effective exchange rate, remittance and corruption were investigated. The analysis is carried out through an extensive review of relevant literature and macroeconomic model of economic growth. The findings show that growth in Ethiopia is positively affected by domestic investment, labor force growth, and remittance. Therefore, the study recommended that increasing domestic investment through promoting public and private sectors, effective use of the growing labor force and proper use of remittance for capital formation and distribution over all sectors as the directions to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth in Ethiopia.

Education, Income, Wealth Inequality and Business Cycles in a General Equilibrium Growth Model

The paper is concerned with the dynamic interactions between physical capital, human capital, income and wealth inequalities between different households with government subsidy to education. It generalizes the endogenous growth model of a small-open economy proposed by Zhang (2016). Zhang’s paper deals with income and wealth inequalities between heterogeneous households with government subsidy to education. The paper makes a contribution to the literature of economic growth with endogenous education by integrating Solow-Uzawa’s neoclassical growth theory, Uzawa-Lucas model, Arrow’s learning by doing, Zhang’s creative leisure, and Walrasian general equilibrium theory. The model treats endogenous capital and human capital accumulation as the main engines of economic growth. This study generalizes Zhang’s model by allowing constant coefficients to be time-dependent. We simulate the generalized model to demonstrate existence of business cycles due to various exogenous periodic shocks.

Population instability and EU-production function anomaly

The purpose of the study is to present the problematic situation when capturing the economic growth mechanism in the European Union. Due to intra-EU migration, the prominent production function framework fails to deliver consistent results. Estimation of structural parameters on data covering the post-accession period up to 2016 delivered a negative (!) assessment of the contribution of “labour” to output for most of the new member states. This result called for further investigations, and a holistic interpretation. It seems that this is the first time a methodological study on the production function framework offers an explicit formulation of the requirements for this method to be effectively employed in output investigations. In short, the production function can be used for cases where the growth mode is extensive, while arguments display declining or ascending trends. However, when the growth mode is intensive, while any of the arguments decline in value, this particular framework will become invalid for capturing the growth mechanism. The observed failure of the production function calls for introducing a new term to the economic growth literature: EU-production-function-anomaly. The method seems to be a far-reaching simplification. The reason for utilizing a very general formulation (excluding human capital and technology) is motivated by the focus on the demographic developments responsible for the anomaly.

Economic Cycles and Urban Growth with Land Value and Land Rent

The purpose of this study is to examine the existence of business fluctuations in an urban growth model of endogenous wealth and land value with residential distribution over a linear city by Zhang (2017). Zhang synthesised the Solow growth model and the Alonso model. This paper generalises Zhang’s model by allowing all the timeindependent parameters to be time-dependent. It examines the relationship between growth, urban structure and land value with different time-dependent exogenous shocks. We simulate the model to demonstrate the existence of equilibrium points, motion of the dynamic system, and oscillations due to different exogenous shocks. The paper makes a unique contribution to the literature of spatial economic growth by identifying cycles in a spatial growth model built on microeconomic foundation.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

The economy has seen unprecedented growth in the past two centuries, raising average incomes by 30-fold. With this added wealth, living standards also improved greatly. Although many factors impact economic growth, it is accepted that entrepreneurship plays a key role. Therefore, understanding the antecedents of entrepreneurship and the link to economic development, often through institutions, should be of higher importance to researchers and policymakers. This Special Issue of the Journal of Risk and Financial Management sought to provide a brief overview of the economic growth literature and its link with entrepreneurship while adding insight through the Special Issue papers regarding the drivers of entrepreneurship in different contexts. Thus, the papers gathered here addressed several aspects of entrepreneurship and how it may be encouraged through networking, cornerstone investors in initial public offerings, new financing methods such as with cryptocurrencies, and through entrepreneur health. The research sites were primarily in Asia. This lead paper summarizes the issue’s papers while also providing a short overview of the economic growth literature and its link to entrepreneurship and institutions. This Special Issue, thus contributes to the empirical and theoretic research on the drivers of entrepreneurship and the association with economic growth.

Does higher longevity harm economic growth?

This study contributes to economic growth literature by providing new evidence on the relationship between life expectancy and economic growth utilising the recently developed dynamic panel threshold estimator. The sample of this study contains a total of 112 developed and developing countries covering the period from 1981 to 2010. The findings indicate the existence of a non-linear relationship between life expectancy and economic growth. In particular, life expectancy is useful for economic growth but only up to a certain threshold level; any further increase in longevity above the threshold would adversely affect growth. These findings emphasise the role of demographic transition in explaining the relationship between health and economic growth.