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The Balkan countries undergoing the transition must advance their economies to be more competitive. The aim of this paper is to analyse economic growth with a primary focus on the analysis of economic convergence in the Balkan region in the period of 1997-2020. The research analyses the following Balkan economies: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. This study applies Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of economic growth and is based on the neoclassical economic growth model: the Solow's convergence concept. The results show that the Balkan countries experienced economic convergence with a speed of 1.82% in the cross-sectional model and 7.87% in the panel data model. It means that the initially less developed economies noted higher economic growth than those richer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production was at the heart of economics from the days of Classical economics. However, with the rise of Neoclassical economics in the late 19th century, production has lost its status as the ultimate interest of economics. Several opportunities for fruitful integration of alternative streams of economics research—Evolutionary, Structuralist and Keynesian in particular—have been also missed. Even the humanist approaches to development, such as Sen's Human Capability Approach, paid little attention to the domain of production. In this article, we argue that the fragmentation of the production-centred paradigm has weakened both academic research and policy-making related to economic development. We introduce and discuss eight articles developed around the special issue theme of Bringing Production Back into Development. We argue that a renewed 'productionist' agenda is essential to address the structural challenges faced by developing countries, even more so after the revelation of structural weaknesses by the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper challenges the mainstream stance in the study of applied ethics in international development. Applied ethics is positioned at the macro-social level of global ethics while a specific codification is attempted by formulating international development based on its structural synthesis, in a threefold level: First, the structural synthesis -associated with the framework of existing international development policy-can be found in the 'market relations'. Second, the analysis specifies the policies applied at the national level and the role of nation-state policy. Third, the paper criticizes the international development institutions' policies. In each of the levels mentioned above, the analysis reveals the fundamental policy theory issues of neoclassical economics, as the intellectual defender of free market economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conceives of the market as an institution, and contrasts two theoretical approaches: Institutionalism, with an evolutionary and analytical bias, whose theoretical basis comes from "Old/Original" Institutionalism, and New Institutional Economics, with an analytical, contractual approach, linked to mainstream economics. Both approaches have given relevant contributions, as they consider the importance of institutions for economic performance. The limits of New Institutional Economics are particularly relevant, whose analysis of the operation of markets is centered on the logic of transaction cost economics as a determinant of economic performance. Evolutionary Institutionalism, in turn, sees the market within a broader scope, in which cost economies only partially explains economic performance, but it is not necessarily seen as a determining factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economics as a discipline is currently in disarray. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, academic experts, students, commentators, practitioners and politicians all questioned the status of academic economics and many called for a 'new economic thinking'. Nearly a decade later, however, there is little evidence of a transformation in research and teaching. The present study first clarifies what is meant by a transformation of economics as a discipline, since this remains an ill-defined term and may be interpreted in very different ways. It then establishes the conditions of a successful transformation of the discipline in terms of intra-disciplinary and extra-disciplinary factors. The paper argues that economics as a discipline cannot be expected to trigger this transformation by itself (i.e. via self-regulation), since the 'market for economic ideas' is prone to market failure. In addition, the influence of external factors and actors on the market may serve to distort the congruence between the individual researcher's utility and societal welfare. External incentives are therefore required to establish constitutional guardrails that ensure fair competition between ideas. [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]

In the context of globalization, China has been widely regarded as the most successful country in the world in utilizing inward foreign direct investment (FDI) for economic development. The mainstream of the literature has produced a wide range of studies that are largely within the theoretical framework of neoclassical economics, and they tend to conclude that FDI has contributed significantly to Chinese economic development—through capital formation, export expansion, technology transfer, and the transformation of the economic structures and institutions. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of FDI in Chinese economic development with reference to the broader theoretical literature on FDI and late development, which encompasses structuralism and radical political economy along with neoclassical economics. From the perspectives of the broader literature, the analyses of the paper find that FDI in China has indeed promoted economic development in one respect (improving allocative efficiency), but has also had unfavourable effect in another respect (worsening productive efficiency), resulting in an overall impact that tends to be on the negative side. The mainstream story of China is thus judged to be partial, and the lessons to be drawn from the experience are arguably far more complex than have been hitherto perceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In neoclassical economics, substitution assumptions support equilibrium models in closed systems shunning interdependence. On these grounds an array of frames show outcomes as stable, efficient, unique and determinate. Heterodox economists say equilibrium models sidestep practical knowledge and the rich reality of economic behavior. Rigor or realism, mainstream or radical, ecological, institutional, sociocultural: economics invites a wide diversity of assumptions, once shortterm models of substitution are opened to question. The answers are blurred by applications; there is clarity in a simplicity shielded from mundane detail. This paper addresses the methodological impact of planning horizons, increasing returns and complementarity, and their proper representation in economic constructions. Horizonal economics can be construed as extending orthodox standards into a realm of time, but for its subtler ramifications. Increasing returns make our relations complementary and not substitutional, loosening the tight deductions from mainstream models of choice. The horizonal extension of our received theory of price applies time to cost and demand curves, showing Marshallian scissors (supply and demand) cut outward and downward with expanded horizons. Static conceptions appear in horizonal groups, suggesting complete theories of price should specify agents' horizons, with no further radical impact: the trouble emerges with increasing returns and complementarity. Horizons stem from unbounded causality; if all we do ripples outward forever in nature and society, the relevant field of inquiry for economics is interdependent: this is the case for bounded rationality as an analytical limit to economic conceptions. In turn, interdependence suggests a use of network constructs to frame complex systemic cascades, and networks open a door to complementarity and increasing returns in transport and information exchange. The gaping maw of increasing returns and complementarity opens, swallowing down neat traditions such as stability, equilibrium, marginalism, partial analysis, supply and demand depictions of price, etc. The methodological lesson of this shift to network contexts and dynamic complex systems supersedes some of our favored doctrines and the analyses on which they stand. Without decreasing returns and substitution, neoclassical arguments simply do not work. Heterodox approaches - and their intelligent application - are required in this setting. The paper offers a few guidelines to an unexplored domain of fundamental departures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between hydroelectricity consumption and economic growth in seven Latin America countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. The analysis is conducted within a neoclassical model involving capital and labour force, for the period of 1970–2012. We utilize a recently developed cointegration test to investigate the long run relationship in the variables. Having established that the variables are cointegrated, the results indicate long run bidirectional causality between hydroelectricity consumption and economic growth in Argentina and Venezuela. There is evidence for long run unidirectional causality from hydroelectricity consumption to economic growth in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The long run coefficients from the regression analyses suggest that hydroelectricity consumption positively affect the economies of these Latin American countries. However, limited evidence of causality between the two variables is found in the short run. The ensuing policy implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the concept of product complexity in an endogenous growth model with renewable energy and expanding product variety à la Grossman and Helpman (1991). We describe the complexity of a product as an increasing function of the variety of inputs it consists of. Considering that energy is necessary to all human activities (including research), we highlight what type of long run growth path is possible according to (a) the potential of energy efficiency gains in the various human activities and (b) the effect of the product complexity on the energy intensiveness of its production process. In a finite world, a neoclassical growth path where economic growth can be both quantitative and non-quantitative (i.e. takes the form of an increase in the quantity of produced goods and in the product variety) is only possible if the potential of energy efficiency gains is unbounded in all human activities. If the energy intensiveness of the final production is bounded from below by a strictly positive constant, quantitative growth is not possible in the long run but non-quantitative growth may persist if (i) the impact of product complexity on the energy intensiveness of production is null or weak enough and (ii) the energy intensiveness of research activities tends to zero. If these conditions are not met, no form of long run growth is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development, especially in the Least Developed Countries (LDC), requires use of intellectual property without always compensating the rights holders in the most developed countries.2 Unconventionally, this Article uses neoclassical economics to provide a rational solution to access rights in the LDC while respecting the first principle of intellectual property right--utilitarianism. The price discrimination model provides a useful rubric to segregate developed country markets from developing country markets. Furthermore, it also provides a subtle test in the case of individual uses of intellectual property as to which should be tolerated in developing nations as uncompensated uses and which should be punished as piracy due to their subverting the economic incentive necessary to promote the creation of intellectual property in the more developed nations. This Article concludes that in the long run, tolerated uncompensated uses in nascent LDC markets are more efficient engines of economic development than direct foreign or sporadic technology transfer and therefore, are in the developed countries' best interests to promote a stable global community through economic development in the LDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part I of this essay explained the sequence of events that enabled the neoclassical paradigm to regain its dominant position in mainstream economics following serious challenges by 'Keynesian' economists. This second essay seeks to answer the question of why the economics profession was so willing to sustain the neoclassical paradigm in the face of the reality-based challenges by 'Keynesian' economists like Harrod and Domar. The answer is sought in the culture of economics, the history of science in general, and the study of power in the field of political economy. This article draws heavily on the work of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, who divides culture into habitus (procedures and dispositions) and doxa (more abstract beliefs and philosophies), in order to provide insight into how culture affects economic thinking. Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence helps to explain how a narrower neoclassical growth model was enthusiastically accepted as a replacement for the 'Keynesian' Harrod-Domar growth model. Financial and business interests clearly understood the power of culture and they used their accumulated wealth to support the neoliberal doxa and neoclassical habitus that would induce economists to willingly provide intellectual cover for policies that benefitted those financial and business interests. We conclude with a discussion on how the history of thought on economic development might have evolved if the Keynesian paradigm, and its dynamic Harrod-Domar model, had prevailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between the discipline of Behavioural Economics and the Neoclassical School. On the basis of the available literature, the paper aims to investigate if the two branches are totally opposite, or if the behavioural theories only extend and complement the mainstream economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The authors considered three regional trading agreements (RTAs): European Union (EU-25), ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to test the hypothesis that poor members within a RTA catch rich members and thereby follow the path of income convergence. Of particular interest is to test whether partial openness (i.e. formation of RTAs) or openness or political conditions are conducive to economic growth among the member countries of RTAs. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used pooled datasets from three different RTAs, namely the EU-25, the AFTA, and the SAFTA. Taking five years average for all variables, starting from 1961 to 1965 and extending to 2001-2005, the authors tested the hypothesis that the growth rate of per capita GDP is negatively related to the initial level of per capita GDP. Constructing a dynamic behavioral equation and forming the reduced form equation, the authors calculated the s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence. Findings – The authors found that both the EU-25 and the AFTA exhibit s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence, while the reverse evidence was observed in the case of the SAFTA. However, the speed of convergence of the AFTA was found to be much higher than that of the EU-25. Originality/value – Formation of RTA by countries should be considered as an essential condition to achieve sustained economic growth. In addition, political rights, trade openness, and more importantly benevolence of the member countries within the RTA must be shown to sustain economic growth and convergence; otherwise with the passage of time, divergence among the RTA members will be evident. [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]

Stephen Marglin and Tariq Banuri argue that the debate between neoclassical and ecological economists over the limits to growth cannot be resolved by appealing to their empirical analyses, but by using the framework of environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With equal profit functions, the static neo-classical theory of a firm and its dynamization by dynamic optimization give equal results. Thus without additional assumptions, dynamic optimization does not dynamize the theory. In the existing models, the solution paths obtained by dynamic optimization converge to the static optimum only under very restricting initial conditions. On the other hand, the static neoclassical theory of a consumer and its dynamization by dynamic optimization explain different quantities: the real consumption of various goods and the money allocated for consumption over time. Thus the dynamic neo-classical micro theory obtained by dynamic optimization is either inconsistent with the static one, or models a different quantity. The neo-classical framework is then lacking consistent static and dynamic theories of a firm and a consumer, and here we introduce such. We define the "economic forces" acting upon the production of a firm and the consumption of a consumer, and show that these dynamic theories analogous to Newtonian mechanics are consistent with the static neo-classical ones; the latter correspond to zero-force situations in the former. The proposed theories are expressed with measurable quantities and they explain economic growth too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoclassical case supporting competitive frames and market solutions has failed to promote stable world-wide economic development. Other approaches in economics incorporate social culture, increasing returns, market power, ecological limits and complementarity, yielding broader applications for development theory. In this paper a theory of planning horizons is introduced to raise some meaningful questions about the traditional view with respect to its substitution, decreasing returns and independence assumptions. Suppositions of complementarity, increasing returns and interdependence suggest that competition is inefficient by upholding a myopic culture resistant to learning. Growth - though long believed to rise from markets and competitive values - may not derive from these sources. Instead, as civilizations advance, shifting from material wants to higher-order intangible output, they evolve from market tradeoffs (substitution and scarcity) into realms of common need (complementarity and abundance). The policy implications of horizonal theory are explored, with respect to regulatory aims and economic concerns. Such an approach emphasizes strict constraints against entry barriers, ecological harm, market power abuse and ethical lapses. Social cohesion - not competition - is sought as a means to extend horizons and thereby increase efficiency, equity and ecological health. The overriding importance of horizon effects for regulatory assessment dominates other orthodox standards in economics and law. Reframing economics along horizonal lines suggests some meaningful insight on the proper design of economic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although industrialization first occurred in England, it is thought that China, not England, may have been the world leader in technology at the time. Yet, China did not industrialize until 150 yr after England and nearly a century after less advanced European countries. This represents a puzzle because two-sector neoclassical growth models, such as Hansen and Prescott (2002) , that accurately match industrialization, require that more technologically advanced countries industrialize at an earlier date. I find that a model that accounts for cross-country heterogeneities in population density accurately predicts the timing of industrialization in China. ( JEL F43, N10, N30, O11, O14, O41) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with a Neo-Schumpeterian growth model which in addition to the traditional production factors labor and capital, also includes energy. Contrary to mainstream neoclassical approaches, which assume a representative optimizing actor, the heterogeneous actors in our model behave experimentally and in their interactions path dependencies might appear. In particular, the experimental behavior focuses on product innovations in the preliminary product industries which we conceive as the energy industries. In line with the standard literature, the following questions are addressed: What are the effects of energy-saving, and what are the effects of a singular reduction of energy consumption on the economy, both in the short- and long-term? Our Neo-Schumpeterian approach allows us to generate results that are directly comparable with mainstream neoclassical models. The model is designed in a way that by switching off the Neo-Schumpeterian innovation process allows the reproduction of traditional results. Considering, however, uncertain product innovations and path dependencies alters these results and generates new insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution examines how gender equality features in the World Bank's World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development, focusing on its conceptual framework, use of empirical evidence, and policy recommendations. It concludes that despite acknowledging that liberalization and privatization have been captured by elites for their own benefit, the report still clings to a neoclassical understanding of how markets and competition work. Moreover, although the report emphasizes gender inequality in opportunities as a trap that hinders economic growth, it shows no understanding of economic growth as a gendered process in which old forms of gender inequality are weakened but new forms of gender inequality emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores a synthesis between neoclassical economic theory and critical theory. The author views that the neoclassical paradigm is not inconsistent with the progressive anti-subordination and community building goals of critical theory. It presents neoclassical theory as an example of rigorous empirically based scholarship and suggests that critical theory could benefit from making similarly rigorous models.

The article explores the ability of ecological economics to serve as a useful analytical platform for the examination of economic issues by progressive economists and scholars. Progressive scholars and ecological economists share similar perspectives, analysis, and values as they are both concerned with the impact of the neoclassical growth model on the global community. It emphasizes on economic growth and development as the prescription for the alleviation of poverty and human suffering.

Focuses on the benefits of economic freedom. Components used in measuring economic freedom; Importance of economic freedom for economic growth; Importance of income equality; Neoclassical explanation of economic growth.

Presents information on a technical review received by The Wildlife Society (TWS) which addresses the issue of economic growth. Conflict between economic growth and wildlife conservation; Schools of thought formed in response to growing discontent with neoclassical economics; View of TWS on population.

Examines relationship between social capital and economic growth in a sample of countries over the period 1970 to 1992. Utilization of a modified neo-classical model of economic growth; Relationship between civic values and politico-economic performance; Distinct forms of social capital.

Informs on economic theories embodied in, or excluded by orthodoxies on triggering economic growth and why they differ. Robert Solow's neoclassical growth or old growth theory; Schumpeterian and post-Keynesian economics; Marxist theory of growth.

Compares the evolution of regional disparities in per capita incomes in Canada and 12 United States states along Canada's southern border. Capital accumulation described by the neoclassical growth model; Higher level of regional dispersion of output per capita in Canada.

Challenges results of the empirical literature in support of the neoclassical theory of export-led growth and provides a theoretical and empirical alternative. Neoclassical hypothesis that exports lead to superior economic performance; Sectoral distribution of employment and output toward the manufacturing sector; Export growth as it relates to growth in output.

This article examines the neoclassical theory of economic growth through a comparative historical analysis of social development in Costa Rica and Chile in the post-1930 period. The neoclassical model underestimates the social and political sources of social development. Markets may create a dynamic and expanding economy, but growth will not automatically result in social infrastructure that will advance the social conditions of the majority. It is in this context that working-class mobilization is decisive for social development. As the Costa Rican and Chilean experience shows, a mobilized working-class can advance social development by forcing government actors to implement social policies in the attempt to either weaken the strength of labor or to buy labor's support. In either case, labor fulfills a critical role in establishing the statutory and bureaucratic precedents for advances in social development.

Compares the traditional neoclassical theory of economic growth with several endogenous growth models to account for ongoing per capita growth. Basic neoclassical setup; Technical progress; Optimality; History of thought; Weaknesses of the neoclassic model; Endogenous growth mechanisms; Issues concerning endogenous growth analysis; Conditional convergence.

Based on N. Georgescu-Roegen's bioeconomic paradigm, this paper reconsiders the neoclassical economic paradigm which endorses continuous global economic growth through stimulated trade. We suggest that, in view of sustainability, it is fundamental to acknowledge: (1) the importance of preserving the identity and integrity of economic systems in different regions of the world through enlarging as much as possible self-sufficiency and equity assessed at national and regional levels; and (2) the importance of including respect for biospheric equilibria as one criterion to be used to regulate world economic activity and trade. We examine differences and similarities of the past and present patterns of ecological degradation. We also present two types of efficiency to assess technological changes and the drive toward unsustainability. Then we discuss an entropy-based theory of North-South trade issues and three points for promotion of sustainability. Finally, we show that the true origin of current ecological crisis lies in a deep change in the perception of the relation between humans and nature that affects the mode of technological development of modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the prospect of economic growth and evaluates the scope of such growth potential, contrasting a view of finite growth potential with a view of presumably infinite growth potential. Neoclassical economists adhere to the belief that it is desirable for a nation's economy to be ever growing larger; however, the author references the work of classical economists such as J. S. Mill, who discussed the nongrowing economy. The nature of gross domestic product (GDP) is considered, and numerous elements of environmental economics are discussed.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the economic calculation of a competitive business, as postulated by the neoclassical tradition, is inefficient and violates the first welfare theorem. Based upon such demonstration, the calculation is redefined and it is demonstrated that the proposal is superior analytically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]