The Economics of Growth


Book Description

A comprehensive, rigorous, and up-to-date introduction to growth economics that presents all the major growth paradigms and shows how they can be used to analyze the growth process and growth policy design. This comprehensive introduction to economic growth presents the main facts and puzzles about growth, proposes simple methods and models needed to explain these facts, acquaints the reader with the most recent theoretical and empirical developments, and provides tools with which to analyze policy design. The treatment of growth theory is fully accessible to students with a background no more advanced than elementary calculus and probability theory; the reader need not master all the subtleties of dynamic programming and stochastic processes to learn what is essential about such issues as cross-country convergence, the effects of financial development on growth, and the consequences of globalization. The book, which grew out of courses taught by the authors at Harvard and Brown universities, can be used both by advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and as a reference for professional economists in government or international financial organizations. The Economics of Growth first presents the main growth paradigms: the neoclassical model, the AK model, Romer's product variety model, and the Schumpeterian model. The text then builds on the main paradigms to shed light on the dynamic process of growth and development, discussing such topics as club convergence, directed technical change, the transition from Malthusian stagnation to sustained growth, general purpose technologies, and the recent debate over institutions versus human capital as the primary factor in cross-country income differences. Finally, the book focuses on growth policies—analyzing the effects of liberalizing market competition and entry, education policy, trade liberalization, environmental and resource constraints, and stabilization policy—and the methodology of growth policy design. All chapters include literature reviews and problem sets. An appendix covers basic concepts of econometrics.




Economic Growth and Development


Book Description

This text is an introduction to the newer features of growth theory that are particularly useful in examining the issues of economic development. Growth theory provides a rich and versatile analytical framework through which fundamental questions about economic development can be examined. Structural transformation, in which developing countries transition from traditional production in largely rural areas to modern production in largely urban areas, is an important causal force in creating early economic growth, and as such, is made central in this approach. Towards this end, the authors augment the Solow model to include endogenous theories of saving, fertility, human capital, institutional arrangements, and policy formation, creating a single two-sector model of structural transformation. Based on applied research and practical experiences in macroeconomic development, the model in this book presents a more rigorous, quantifiable, and explicitly dynamic dual economy approach to development. Common microeconomic foundations and notation are used throughout, with each chapter building on the previous material in a continuous flow. Revised and updated to include more exercises for guided self study, as well as a technical appendix covering required mathematical topics beyond calculus, the second edition is appropriate for both upper undergraduate and graduate students studying development economics and macroeconomics.




Growth and Empowerment


Book Description

Despite significant gains in promoting economic growth and living conditions (or "human progress") globally over the last twenty-five years, much of the developing world remains plagued by poverty and its attendant problems, including high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and war. In Growth and Empowerment, Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and F. Halsey Rogers propose a new strategy for development. Drawing on many years of work in development economics—in academia, in the field, and at international institutions such as the World Bank—the authors base their strategy on two interrelated approaches: building a climate that encourages investment and growth and at the same time empowering poor people to participate in that growth. This plan differs from other models for development, including the dogmatic approach of market fundamentalism popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Stern, Dethier, and Rogers see economic development as a dynamic process of continuous change in which entrepreneurship, innovation, flexibility, and mobility are crucial components and the idea of empowerment, as both a goal and a driver of development, is central. The book points to the unique opportunity today—after 50 years of successes and failures, and with a growing body of analytical work to draw on—to pursue new development strategies in both research and action.




The Knowledge Capital of Nations


Book Description

A rigorous, pathbreaking analysis demonstrating that a country's prosperity is directly related in the long run to the skills of its population. In this book Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann make a simple, central claim, developed with rigorous theoretical and empirical support: knowledge is the key to a country's development. Of course, every country acknowledges the importance of developing human capital, but Hanushek and Woessmann argue that message has become distorted, with politicians and researchers concentrating not on valued skills but on proxies for them. The common focus is on school attainment, although time in school provides a very misleading picture of how skills enter into development. Hanushek and Woessmann contend that the cognitive skills of the population—which they term the “knowledge capital” of a nation—are essential to long-run prosperity. Hanushek and Woessmann subject their hypotheses about the relationship between cognitive skills (as consistently measured by international student assessments) and economic growth to a series of tests, including alternate specifications, different subsets of countries, and econometric analysis of causal interpretations. They find that their main results are remarkably robust, and equally applicable to developing and developed countries. They demonstrate, for example, that the “Latin American growth puzzle” and the “East Asian miracle” can be explained by these regions' knowledge capital. Turning to the policy implications of their argument, they call for an education system that develops effective accountability, promotes choice and competition, and provides direct rewards for good performance.




Economic Growth And Development (Second Edition)


Book Description

This textbook covers the full range of topics and issues normally included in a course on economic growth and development. Both mainstream economic perspectives as well as the multi-paradigmatic, inter-disciplinary, and dynamic-evolutionary perspectives from heterodox economics are detailed. Economic development is viewed in terms of the long-run well-being of humanity, social stability, environmental sustainability, and just distribution of economic gains, not simply as the growth of GDP. Furthermore, this textbook explicitly recognizes the complexity of economic development by linking economic activity to our broader social and natural environments.The textbook's unique feature is its focus on the natural environment. Both the historical effects of economic development on the environment and the environmental constraints on future economic development are thoroughly discussed in two chapters on environmental issues and policies. In fact, because economic development is defined in terms of economic, social, and environmental sustainability, the natural environment is included in discussions throughout the book.The textbook is inter-disciplinary: knowledge from fields such as sociology, psychology, political science, economic history, and ecology is called on to enhance the economic analysis. A thorough historical account of the development of the principal paradigms of economic development is also included, and the important issues of institutional development and cultural change merit their own chapters. Two chapters on technological change holistically focus on production technologies as well as the dynamic performance of entire economic, social, and ecological systems. Also, the important relationship between economic development and globalization is presented in three chapters on international trade, international finance and investment, and immigration from both orthodox and heterodox perspectives.




The Pursuit of Development


Book Description

In this book Ian Goldin shows how the understanding of how nations escape poverty and achieve economic and social progress has changed as the pendulum has swung from arguments for state-led development to a preoccupation with market forces.




Theoretical Approaches to Economic Growth and Development


Book Description

This book provides the theoretical and analytical background critical to understand the process of economic development and growth at the beginning of the 21st century. This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach, using concepts borrowed from related disciplines such as politics, anthropology, psychology, business, and more. The core theme of this book is the argument that different theoretical approaches constitute excellent creative contributions, the study of which is necessary for a complete understanding of development and growth. Thus, this book stands out for its theoretical pluralistic character. The first part of the book provides an introduction to essential methodology terms for the theory of economic development and growth, while the second part outlines important concepts of economic behavior. Part three focuses on the sources of economic growth and their evolution throughout history, and pays special attention to the main theories related to economic growth as well as to the growth and development implications of Covid-19. The book ends with an analysis of international financial architecture and the consolidated financial transaction framework.




Economic Growth and Development in Ethiopia


Book Description

This volume is a collection of selected empirical studies on determinants of economic growth and development in Ethiopia.The core argument for editing this book is to provide an up-to-date picture of the state and patterns of growth and development in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been under focus in the past due to draughts, war, famine, development changes and the effects of global economic crisis in the country. A main contribution of this volume is that it helps identify selected important determinants of growth and development in Ethiopia and provides an estimation of their effects using up-to-date data, modelling and methods. Taken together the studies provide a comprehensive picture of the state of growth and development, their measurements, causal relationships and evaluation of efficient policies and practices in achieving progress in Ethiopia. The issues covered represent major challenges to the government and development organizations who are aiming at achieving higher growth and alleviating poverty in the country. The studies cover transition from rural agriculture to urban industry and the development of services.




Macroeconomics and Development


Book Description

Latin American neo-structuralism is a cutting-edge, regionally focused economic theory with broad implications for macroeconomics and development economics. Roberto Frenkel has spent five decades developing the theory's core arguments and expanding their application throughout the discipline, revolutionizing our understanding of high inflation and hyperinflation, disinflation programs, and the behavior of foreign exchange markets as well as financial and currency crises in emerging economies. The essays in this collection assess Latin American neo-structuralism's theoretical contributions and viability as the world's economies evolve. The authors discuss Frenkel's work in relation to pricing decisions, inflation and stabilization policy, development and income distribution in Latin America, and macroeconomic policy for economic growth. An entire section focuses on finance and crisis, and the volume concludes with a neo-structuralist analysis of general aspects of economic development. For those seeking a comprehensive introduction to contemporary Latin American economic thought, this collection not only explicates the intricate work of one of its greatest practitioners but also demonstrates its impact on the growth of economics.




Beyond Growth


Book Description

"Daly is turning economics inside out by putting the earth and its diminishing natural resources at the center of the field . . . a kind of reverse Copernican revolution in economics." --Utne Reader "Considered by most to be the dean of ecological economics, Herman E. Daly elegantly topples many shibboleths in Beyond Growth. Daly challenges the conventional notion that growth is always good, and he bucks environmentalist orthodoxy, arguing that the current focus on 'sustainable development' is misguided and that the phrase itself has become meaningless." --Mother Jones "In Beyond Growth, . . . [Daly] derides the concept of 'sustainable growth' as an oxymoron. . . . Calling Mr. Daly 'an unsung hero,' Robert Goodland, the World Bank's top environmental adviser, says, 'He has been a voice crying in the wilderness.'" --G. Pascal Zachary, The Wall Street Journal "A new book by that most far-seeing and heretical of economists, Herman Daly. For 25 years now, Daly has been thinking through a new economics that accounts for the wealth of nature, the value of community and the necessity for morality." --Donella H. Meadows, Los Angeles Times "For clarity of vision and ecological wisdom Herman Daly has no peer among contemporary economists. . . . Beyond Growth is essential reading." --David W. Orr, Oberlin College "There is no more basic ethical question than the one Herman Daly is asking." --Hal Kahn, The San Jose Mercury News "Daly's critiques of economic orthodoxy . . . deliver a powerful and much-needed jolt to conventional thinking." --Karen Pennar, Business Week Named one of a hundred "visionaries who could change your life" by the Utne Reader,Herman Daly is the recipient of many awards, including a Grawemeyer Award, the Heineken Prize for environmental science, and the "Alternative Nobel Prize," the Right Livelihood Award. He is professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, and coauthor with John Cobb, Jr., of For the Common Good.