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Bangladesh's remarkable achievements in economic and social progress have placed the country in a position that was unimaginable just 20 years ago. However, has such improvement in development outcomes been equal across all areas within the country? We aim to address this question by analyzing district-level income per capita derived from the 2000 and 2016 rounds of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Using models based on standard neoclassical economic convergence theory, which may also account for natural disasters, we find little evidence of convergence. This suggests that income differentials among Bangladesh's 64 districts persist. We also examined the possibility of multiple steady states by estimating models with a three-club structure based on income percentiles as registered in 2000. However, we found no evidence of conditional convergence. Additionally, we explored the potential for endogenous club formation using regression trees and machine learning algorithms. Yet, once again, the results did not support convergence. Overall, our findings reveal no evidence of conditional convergence in income among Bangladesh's districts. This implies that policy implications might vary, with targeted interventions possibly necessary to address the specific factors hindering convergence among similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical appraisal of the literature is provided with a focus on the theoretical differences underlining the mainstream and evolutionary economics of the role of technology on the ability of backward countries to catch up. The policy implications derived from these contesting approaches are illustrated in the context of the National Innovation Systems framework and the conventional debate over the advantage of backwardness. We stress that the evolutionary theory stands for a broad view of innovation and the systems literature for active public action toward the leadership, sponsorship and coordination of (local) innovation, which are positions that contrast with the theoretical views of neoclassical economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of financial deepening on growth dynamics and productivity in an economy where heterogeneous entrepreneurs face endogenous borrowing constraints. Quantitative results from a calibrated model suggest that 38% of Japan's total factor productivity from 1961 to 1991 can be explained by the financial deepening effects and the convergence speed is 29% slower than that implied by neoclassical models. The present paper also theoretically shows that an economy with a higher degree of productivity heterogeneity is more likely to avoid the poverty trap and converge with a slower speed to its steady state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study begins with a brief presentation of the Neoclassical Model of economic growth and continues with the inclusion of two additional variables that affect welfare in opposing ways: pollution and abatement expenditures. The optimal steady-state conditions are derived allowing for a preliminary comparison of the resulting balanced growth paths under the criterion of welfare maximization with and without environmental externalities. Finally, using a balanced panel data of 43 countries and for the time period 1990-2011 we test the validity of including the environment in the neoclassical growth model approximating pollution abatement with the electricity production from renewable sources and pollution with carbon dioxide emissions. With the help of adequate econometric panel data methods we test the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the full sample, as well as for the OECD and non-OECD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to other factors, the role of the age distribution of the population as a key endogenous determinant of economic growth trajectories has traditionally been overlooked. This is unrealistic, especially when dealing with major epochs of structural change, such as demographic transitions. We set up a model combining a simple representation of the economy, based on the neoclassical growth model of Solow, with a comprehensive representation of population dynamics. The model is used to investigate the structure of balanced growth states of the population and the economy in the presence of demographic transitions. The analysis shows that proper inclusion of age structure enriches the spectrum of the long-run equilibria of the neoclassical model, allowing up to five states of balanced growth, and shows the onset of 'poverty' and 'low-fertility' traps as different facets of fertility transitions. The role of different timing of fertility, mortality and savings transitions, and of more realistic demography of capital, is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a neoclassical growth model with many regions and a mobile factor, two federal arrangements are considered. In the first federal arrangement the central government chooses a uniform tax policy, whereas in the second each regional government chooses its own tax policy. The main result is that the first federal arrangement leads to high tax rates and economic stagnation, whereas the second leads to low tax rates and economic growth. This result stems from a time consistency problem. The lack of tax competition forces a time consistency problem on the central government under the first federal arrangement. In contrast, regional tax competition acts as a commitment device under the second federal arrangement. The fundamental feature in the environment that gives rise to different abilities of the state to commit is the different structure of authority within the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the long-term equilibrium and development dynamics in the neoclassical growth model and a simple model of endogenous growth when property rights are absent. Comparison of results to the outcome in a corresponding model with secure property rights; Existence of a considerable gain in level and growth of consumption from establishing secure property rights; Evidence that economic performance without property rights worsens with an increasing number of social groups; Existence or absence of property rights that explains conditional convergence.