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This paper seeks to explore the relationship between economic growth and governance performance in Asian developing economies. This exploration yields some interesting conclusions. First, notwithstanding its tremendous economic achievements, the state of governance in Asia is not stellar by international comparison. Indeed, the majority of these countries seem to suffer from a governance deficit. Second, contrary to our expectations, data do not suggest any strong positive link between governance and growth: paradoxically, countries that exhibit surpluses in governance on average grew much slower than those with deficits. The paper ends with some conjecture about this apparent paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic policy liberalization is a key to higher overall growth, reforms are often not implemented due to a fierce opposition from politically powerful prospective losers from reforms. In this respect, it is frequently claimed that economic crises can help overcome resistance to policy liberalization. Furthermore, political authorities not constrained by democratic checks and balances are supposed to be more decisive and are thus expected to carry out market-friendly policy change in times of crises more easily. Rules of democratic participation and checks and balances may however also be good for policy reform, as they can serve as an institutional mechanism for peaceful conflict resolution. The paper investigates empirically the interaction between economic growth performance and political institutions in producing free-market reform. We explore whether political regime types shape systematically government policy responses to good or bad growth performance, employing panel econometric techniques and using recently updated data for economic reform and political institutions. Contrary to conventional wisdom we find that a bad growth performance is conducive to reforms in democracies, but not in autocracies. Democracies not only carry out more liberal economic policies in general, but they are also more responsive to economic growth crises. Democratic rule seems to be favorable for policy liberalization, but a very good growth performance weakens liberalization incentives considerably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies yield diverging outcomes on the governance-growth relationship. In this paper we construct a new index of governance using a latent variable approach and test whether this index is related to growth with varying samples of countries and different conditioning variables. The results show that our index has a positive and significant impact on economic growth. This conclusion is fairly robust for various samples and conditioning variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores whether the probability of being punished after losing power leads dictators to restrain their level of predation and, thus, increase economic growth. To do so, a simple model of predatory rule is developed, and the consequences of an increasing probability of punishment after loosing power explored. New data on dictators' post-exit fate have permitted to estimate the predicted probability of punishment taking place by using multinomial logit. Outgoing dictators' strength and the international context are shown to be the main determinants of post-exit scenarios. The probability of punishment is proven to have a positive and significant effect on the rate of growth of GDP under alternative specifications of growth regressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The fact that high expenditure on armaments impedes economic growth by diverting ressources from investment has been repeatedly stressed. The present paper indicates an additional route by which military expenditure may slow down economic growth. The clue is taken from the 'export-led growth' models (B eckerman, L amfalussy) which claim a correlation between growth of exports and total economic growth. It is then argued that high military expenditure reduces export availabilities in the machinery and transport equipment sector where chances for export expansion have been above average. This brake on the most expansive sector dampens export growth in general. A slow-down in GNP-growth follows from this. A preliminary glance at the statistical picture shows that the above hypothesis should not be completely ruled out. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Die wachstumshemmende Wirkung hoher Rüstungsausgaben, die durch die Ver-minderung von Resourcen für Investitionszwecke hervorgerufen wird, ist schon oft betont worden. Die vorliegende Arbeit weist auf einen möglichen weiteren Zusammenhang zwischen Höhe der Militärausgaben und Rate des Wirtschafts-wachstums hin. Ausgangspunkt sind die Theorien eines «export-led growth» (B eckerman, L amfalussy), die eine positive Korrelation zwischen Export- und allgemeinem Wirtschaftswachstum postulieren. Es wird dann darauf hingewiesen, dass hohe Militärausgaben das Exportangebot im Sektor der Maschinen und Ver-kehrsmittel beschneiden, der im Welthandel weit rascher expandiert als andere Sektoren. Diese Bremswirkung im expansivsten Sektor zieht eine Verlangsamung des Exportwachstums im allgemeinen nach sich und führt schliesslich zu einer relativ niedrigeren Wachstumsrate des Bruttosozialprodukts. Ein enter Blick ad das vorhandene statistische Material zeigt, dass die obige Hypothese nicht ohne weiteres von der Hand zu weisen ist. RÉSUMÉ Des dépenses importantes pour l'armement empêchent la croissance économique parce qu'elles détournent les ressources nécessaires à l'investissement. Ce fait est largement connu. L'article se tourne vers une autre relation possible entre la hauteur des dépenses militaires et le ralentissement de la croissance économique. Les théories du «export-led growth» (B eckerman, L amfalussy) servent de point de repère: elles stipulent une corrélation positive entre la croissance économique en général et celle des exportations. L'auteur démontre par la suite que les dépenses militaires élevées réduisent les possibilités d'exportations dans la secteurs des machines et des moyens de transport. On sait que partout l'expansion de ces deux secteurs at bien au-dessus de la moyenne. Pour cette raison un freinage touchant ces deux secteun particulièrement expands ralentira la croissance des exporta-tions en général et aboutira par la suite à un tau d'accroissement moins élevé du produit national brut. Un regard préliminaire Bur le matériel statistique affirme que l'hypothèse developpée par l'auteur ne devrait être exclue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY S olow's famous contribution to the theory of economic growth is based on the assumption that the savings proportions are the same for all income earners. In this study this restrictive premise is replaced by the assumption that the savings proportions vary according to the different groups of income earners. This paper sets out to analyse the resultant consequences for the long-run equilibrium growth. One essential result is that both the overall savings proportion and the capital-output-ratio are flexible. Their steady-state solutions are, in contrast to the respective solutions in S olow's original paper, dependent on the form of the production function. Moreover, there can be derived certain conditions for the special long-run equilibrium of the Neo-Classical Theorem, which are implying no specific restrictions on the savings proportions of the various groups. Besides, there is shown that on these conditions not only a maximum of total consumption per man is achieved but also an equal distribution of consumption among all groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of aggregate foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth remains uncertain in the literature. We revisit this FDI–Growth relation by analyzing the components of FDI – greenfield investment and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Our analysis contributes to the existing literature by focusing on potentially heterogeneous growth effects of different FDI entry modes. Using a sample of 84 countries from 1987 to 2001, we separately examine the growth effects of greenfield investment and M&As. We find that greenfield investment and M&As have different impacts on economic growth. Greenfield investment promotes economic growth while M&As can be beneficial only when the host country has an adequate level of human capital. Our results provide support for receiving M&As when policymakers allocate more resources for human capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]