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In our 2011 survey of the literature in the Journal of Economic Surveys on the effect of government size on economic growth in wealthy countries we find a relatively consistent pattern: An increase in government size by 10 percentage points is associated with a 0.5-1 percentage point lower annual growth rate. This conclusion is questioned by Colombier. In this rejoinder we present a rebuttal of Colombier's argument based on a detailed scrutiny of his own statistical evidence and regression results. Furthermore, we note that several new papers that have appeared since our original paper was published give support to our main conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the current political developments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, such as Ukraine, Poland, and Romania, the question arises as to the role played by economic transformation and the resulting innovation linkages in these countries over the last 20 years. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of economic and institutional dimensions on the development of CEE countries, explicitly distinguishing between European Union (EU) members and non‐members, and thus reflecting the differences in institutions and path dependency. Furthermore, the paper contrasts the performance of CEE countries with that of Western European countries. To achieve these objectives, the impact of factors such as innovation, institutions, and political practices on the economic development of 37 European countries from 2000 until 2020 is followed using fixed effects regression and Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The results of the analysis show the importance of institutional factors such as low levels of corruption, political freedoms, and intellectual property. The effect of institutional variables was particularly pronounced in the case of non‐EU countries, which indicates the particular importance of the development of stable institutions for achieving higher levels of economic development for this category of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of holidays differs significantly across Indian states. Moreover, some of the governing political parties have been accused of using holidays as a tool either to mollify disgruntled workers or to woo voters before the state elections. In this context, this paper explores the relationship between the number of holidays and economic growth across 24 Indian states, spanning the period 2008–2016, by employing a panel model analysis. The paper presents evidence suggesting that holidays seem to affect growth negatively in the rich states but are inconsequential for the growth performance of the poor states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the four‐way linkages between innovation, trade openness, financial development and economic growth using panel‐VAR approach for 11 European countries over the period 2001‐2016. Most importantly, the findings revealed that there is a unidirectional relationship between economic growth and financial development, between trade and economic growth and between innovation and financial development. The findings also revealed a negative relationship between innovation and economic growth and between trade and economic growth. The paper concludes that further regulation of financial systems and the quality of funding are important ingredients to foster economic development. The paper also concludes that country‐specific characteristics can play an important role in fostering innovation and productivity. Furthermore, policymakers should improve institutional quality and improve the regulatory environment in order to benefit more from trade openness. Also, policy makers need to use innovation incentives for local companies in order to counteract the negative effects induced by market opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cooperatives play important role in economic development via multiple channels, particularly, in developing countries' cases. Considering this fact, Nepal's constitution 2017 has incorporated the cooperative as one of the three pillars of her economy. This paper aims to analyze the role of cooperatives in the economic development of Nepal. For this, first, this paper documents the trend and pattern of Nepalese cooperatives' evolving structure, then moves to the econometric estimation to analyze the role of cooperatives in economic growth employing an advanced methodology. Looking at the properties of time series data for the period of 49 years from 1970 to 2018, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach of cointegration is employed. The major finding is that the development of the cooperatives has a long‐run relationship with economic growth. However, the focus should be seen as on the involvement of many people in the cooperatives' activities rather than just on amassing the cooperatives' capital. The results also suggest that there is a need for the attention of policymakers so ensure that share capital contributes to economic growth. Therefore, the areas of priorities and scope of work of cooperatives need to be reconsidered when formulating new policies related to cooperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate exists over the role that public investment must play in economic recovery and economic growth. The underlying idea behind this debate has much to do with the value of output elasticity of public capital. This article presents a meta-analysis of this elasticity, which was performed by considering almost 2,000 elasticities previously estimated from 145 papers. In addition, for each elasticity, we also take into account some 30 associated features relative to the methodology used for each case or relative to the characteristics of data samples. The obtained results reveal an average short-term elasticity of 0.13 (0.16 in the long term). We also find evidence of the importance of the methodology adopted for the obtained results, as well as the publication bias. Finally, we find a minor reduction in the value of the elasticity as public capital endowments increase. The results obtained highlight the positive and important effect of public investment on productivity. As a results of the value obtained, public investment will be self-financed in the long-term because of generated returns. But, we also find that the effectiveness of public investment has a clear influence of the institutional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between social trust and long‐run economic growth is well documented. However, which determinants of growth are affected by social trust remains an open question. This paper therefore explores to which extent social trust affects the rate of factor accumulation versus productivity improvements. Previous studies indicate that social trust could affect both the accumulation of physical and human capital and the rate of productivity increases. Existing literature also indicates that part of the growth effects may be due to how trust affects the quality of formal institutions. The effects of trust are estimated in a panel of 64 countries observed in 5‐year periods between 1977 and 2017, using growth accounting to separate patterns of growth. The results unequivocally show that social trust predominantly affects long‐run growth by affecting the growth of productivity and that only a small share of that effect runs through the effects of trust on formal institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents an integrated overview of the literature linking institutions, financial development, and economic growth. From the large body of research on institutional development, the paper first selects those contributions that make it possible to study the role of institutional arrangements in ameliorating/worsening the information frictions and transaction costs that characterize the development of financial markets. The paper then investigates the theoretical mechanisms by which these specific frictions affect economic growth and presents the stock of empirical evidence quantifying the impact of institutions on growth through financial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical literature on the effects of the real exchange rate (RER) on international trade, economic development and growth. We summarize the main conceptual issues, briefly discuss the relevance of the RER as an instrument of development policy, provide an overview of the macroeconomic and microeconomic mechanisms that link the RER to trade and long‐run growth and development, analyse the challenges – especially the disconnect between theory and data – that often arise in empirical applications, and discuss new avenues for future research. In the process, we present some updated estimates and illustrative figures. The mechanisms through which the RER influences long‐run growth and structural change remains a promising area of research and the relevance of individual channels in different contexts deserves much more careful investigation. Greater data availability should help fill some of these gaps in our understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the effect of financial development and renewable energy consumption on consumption‐based CO2 emissions in Chile while controlling for economic growth and electricity consumption. Based on the aim of the paper, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds with Kripfganz and Schneider's (2018) approximations, fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and gradual shift causality tests are applied in this study. The outcomes clearly reveal that while financial development and renewable energy consumption reduce the consumption‐based CO2 emissions in Chile, economic growth and electricity consumption increase consumption‐based carbon emissions. The gradual shift causality test provides consistent results with ARDL, FMOLS, and DOLS estimators. Therefore, policymakers in Chile should dynamically encourage the research and development of low‐carbon technologies and renewable energy investments while imported nonrenewable energy sources level should be targeted, and especially those sectors which are more energy‐intensive and causing to increase in consumption‐based CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic impact of resource investments into higher education has been the focus of considerable research in recent years. Many contributions analyse the strength of the connection between economic development and higher education at the local level and the conditions which make certain systems more effective and efficient than others. In this paper, we provide a systematic bibliometric review of the available literature on the subject, various dimensions of this complex issue, constructing and analysing a map of variables used by selected researchers in the field. A summary of knowledge gaps, research limitations, topics explored and applied methods is provided to envisage future research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to examine the threshold impact of financial development and trade liberalization on income inequality as a measure of sustainable development in a sample of developed and developing countries using panel threshold analysis. Two major dimensions of financial development are considered: liquid liabilities and stock market capitalization. The empirical results revealed that financial development reduces income inequality only in countries where their GDP per capita is above ~US$11,000. It has no significant impact in reducing inequality in developing countries. This implies that institutional reforms in less developed and developing countries are necessary in order to reap the gains from financial development. Trade liberalization is found to have a positive impact on income inequality for both country groups—that is, trade benefits have worsened the income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic historians have recently treated Islamic institutions as "growth retarding," "averse to change," "path dependent," "lacking creative destruction" and "extractive" rather than "inclusive" and blamed their failure to change for the underdevelopment of the Middle East. This paper argues for a different approach to Islamic institutions which implies that they boosted economic growth. The paper explores changes in economic structures, a transition in population levels from high to low and a transition to individual property rights and provides economic indicators of growth. Articulated via Islamic law, legally sanctioned birth control and women's property rights were instrumental in assuring low fertility rates and equitable and well‐distributed income in the population. The paper concludes theoretically and empirically that Islamic institutions were innovative, amenable to change and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argentina is the only country in the world that was developed in 1900 and developing in 2000. Although there is widespread consensus on the occurrence and uniqueness of this decline, an intense debate remains on its timing and underlying causes. This paper provides a first systematic investigation of the timing of the Argentine debacle. It uses an array of econometric tests for structural breaks and a range of GDP growth series covering 1886–2003. The main conclusion is the dating of two key structural breaks (in 1918 and 1948), which we argue support explanations for the debacle that highlight the slowdown of domestic financial development and trade protectionism (after 1918) and of institutional development (after 1948). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets the contributions to this special issue in the context of a large and rapidly growing literature. It argues that although our understanding of the relationships between entrepreneurship, innovation, geography and economic growth is much clearer than in the past, there remains much that needs to be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the changing sources of growth in post-reform China. Using cross-province regressions, this paper finds that, in earlier periods, exports, foreign direct investment and marketization were significantly related to per capita income growth, whereas since the late 1990s, foreign direct investment and marketization have lost their significance and have been replaced by new sources of growth, such as innovation and knowledge, with only exports continuing to be important. This finding is robust after controlling for other variables representing other economic policies and provincial characteristics. We also tackle the possible endogeneity of innovation variables using the instrumental variables estimation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the debate on services-led growth in which services are variously portrayed as a substitute for or as a leading or lagging complement to manufacturing. Following a survey of related empirical studies, it applies growth decomposition methods to data for 18 countries in Asia and Latin America for 1980-2005, focusing on manufacturing and services that make intensive use of information and communication technology. By grouping the countries into four categories according to aggregate labour productivity and employment growth, the authors seek to identify common structural characteristics of better and worse performing countries. They also consider the viability of the services-led growth path in India in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between gender inequality and economic growth is a topic that is of growing interest, both in the academic literature and the policy arena. In this paper, we survey the literature that analyses this relationship from a macroeconomic perspective. We argue that that the existing theories provide a wide range of mechanisms through which these two variables may affect each other but also that more work needs to be carried out to obtain quantitative predictions out of these models. In the empirical arena, we note the lack of connection between most studies and the existing theories described earlier. In both cases, we propose approaches to alleviate these problems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The high level of debt among households outside the top end of the income distribution has led many economists to assert that household debt has been an important component of the increase in income inequality in the United States. In addition, the yield spread provides information about the overall condition of the economy and may also be tied into the distribution of income. The paper's results show that increases in the yield spread and household debt correspond with increases in top income shares, resulting in increases in income inequality. However, as household debt and income inequality increase, the yield spread contracts, which suggests future economic contraction. Thus, rising inequality may signal future economic weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper looks at the link between the quality of economic institutions and innovation, and innovation and growth. We construct a measure of the innovation content of individual manufacturing industries and show that countries with stronger economic institutions specialize in more innovation‐intensive industries. Our results also provide evidence that industries involving higher levels of innovation grow relatively faster in countries with better economic institutions. The results suggest that innovation is an important channel through which higher quality economic institutions contribute to better growth performance in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The serial underperformer of the region, Myanmar's economy is largely without the institutions and qualities necessary to achieve genuine economic growth. This paper explores the fundamentals of Myanmar's economy, from a perspective that emphasizes policy and institutional failure as the principal determinants of the country's present circumstances. The paper explores Myanmar's economy in a multifaceted way, examining concerns over economic growth, public finances, monetary and financial policies, corruption, and international trade. Notwithstanding the change in the form of Myanmar's governing institutions following the elections of November 2010, the paper concludes pessimistically as to the likelihood of meaningful economic reform in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys five decades of empirical research on the macroeconomic impact of aid, looking mainly at studies examining the link between aid and growth. It argues that studies dating until the late 1990s produced either contradictory or inconclusive results. Aid either worked, or it didn't, according to this research. The paper then highlights a major shift in the literature that coincided with the release of the World Bank's Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn't and Why. Practically, all research published since that report agrees with its general finding that aid works to the extent that in its absence, growth would be lower. One controversy may therefore have been settled. Yet, as shown in this paper, the report has set-off an intense debate over the context in which aid works. That debate centres on whether the effectiveness of these inflows depends on the policy regime of recipient countries. Some possible avenues through which the heat might be taken out of this debate are considered. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses whether the component of across‐sector labor and capital misallocation induced by real effective exchange rate (REER) misalignments in turn significantly affects economic development. REER imbalances are derived from a Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate model; labor and capital misallocation is measured according to indicators in Ando and Nassar (IMF Working Papers, 2017, 17, 1) and Aoki (Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 2012, 26, pp. 473–494), on a unique cross‐country cross‐sector national account dataset of 54 countries and 12 sectors over 1980–2015. Both REER over‐ and undervaluations are found to lead to rising across‐sector labor (but not capital) misallocation and, uniquely via this channel, significantly hamper real growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the determinants of economic growth in developing countries within the standard growth regression framework, with special attention being paid to the experience of landlocked developing countries ( LLDCs). The results confirm that the landlockedness hampers economic growth, but the magnitude of negative impact is sensitive to alternative estimation methods. However, the analysis suggests that good governance, trade openness and coordinating infrastructure development with neighbours explain the significant aspect of the inter-country differences in growth rates among LLDCs. The results also suggest that African landlocked countries are not different from the other LLDCs. Contrary to the 'resource curse' hypothesis, natural resources seem to contribute to economic growth of LLDCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International travel has been hypothesized to shape large cross‐country differences in productivity and income. However, evidence supporting this hypothesis, especially from developing countries, remains scarce. This paper fills this gap by studying a novel historical natural experiment—China's removal of travel restrictions on foreigners to designated Open‐to‐Foreigners‐Counties (OFCs). Utilizing the county‐by‐county rollout of the OFCs, we find that removing travel restrictions on foreigners led to a 7.4% increase in per capita industrial output for the OFCs in 1985–1991. The positive effects are larger in counties with more foreign equipment and greater industrial human capital. We highlight the role of person‐based international knowledge diffusion in the economic catch‐up of technology recipient countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the effects of government consumption and government debt on economic growth using data from 83 countries, including both developed and developing markets, over the period from 1960 to 2014. Linear regressions reveal that the negative effects of government consumption are relatively higher than the negative effects of government debt. A nonlinear investigation further suggests that the restrictions on government expenditure to prevent negative growth are more important for countries with lower trade openness, lower inflation, or greater financial depth, whereas the restrictions on government debt are shown to be more important for countries with higher trade openness, lower inflation or greater financial depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the economic growth experiences of middle‐income economies over the period 1960–2014 focusing on two groups of countries. The "convergence success" group includes middle‐income economies which have graduated to a high‐income status or have achieved rapid convergence progress. When an economy in the "nonsuccess" group experienced growth deceleration and failed to advance to a high‐income status, we defined such episodes as the "middle‐income trap." We observe no clear pattern that the relative frequency of growth deceleration was higher for upper middle‐income economies, thereby refuting the "middle‐income trap hypothesis." The probit regressions show that "convergence successes" tend to maintain strong human capital, a high working‐age population ratio, effective rule of law, low‐priced investment goods, and high levels of high‐tech exports and patents. Adding to unfavorable demographic, trade, and technological factors, rapid investment expansion, hasty deregulation, and hurried financial opening could cause the "nonsuccesses" to fall into the middle‐income trap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper estimates the impact of public investment on regional economic growth and convergence at the NUTS 3 level in Greece. Using a new database of public expenditure per region for the period 1978-2007, it proposes a model which captures not just the impact of public investment in Greek prefectures, but also the spillover effects related to the existence of externalities from neighbouring regions. The results point to a positive long-run impact of public investment per capita on regional economic growth - but not on convergence - which also generates considerable spillover effects. However, the returns vary according to different types of public investment, with education and infrastructure spillovers having the highest impact. In general, public investment externalities seem to be more relevant for regional growth than direct public investment in each region. Finally, the impact of different types of public investment in Greece is mediated by politics and political factors, but the effect of politics disappears once we control for political-period-specific spatial-invariant variables. Resumen Este artículo estima el impacto de la inversión pública en el crecimiento económico regional y la convergencia a nivel NUTS 3 en Grecia. Haciendo uso de una nueva base de datos de gasto público por región para el periodo 1978-2007, se propone un modelo que identifica no solamente el impacto de la inversión pública en las prefecturas griegas, sino también los efectos de spillover relacionados con la existencia de externalidades procedentes de regiones vecinas. Los resultados apuntan a un impacto positivo a largo plazo de la inversión pública per cápita en el crecimiento económico regional - pero no en la convergencia - el cual genera unos efectos de spillover considerables. Sin embargo, los retornos varían de acuerdo con los diferentes tipos de inversión pública, siendo la educación y los spillovers de infraestructura los de mayor impacto. En general, las externalidades de inversión pública parecen tener una mayor relevancia para el crecimiento regional que la inversión pública directa en cada región. Para terminar, el impacto de los diferentes tipos de inversión pública en Grecia se ve influido por sus políticas y otros factores políticos, pero el efecto de las políticas desaparece una vez que se controlan las variables espacialmente-invariantes de tipo político ligadas a un periodo específico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the emergence of remittances studies, knowledge about their effect on economic development is still ambiguous. This paper investigates the impact of remittances at macroeconomic level in developing countries controlling for endogeneity problems with the use of panel vector autoregression (panel VAR). The findings suggest that remittances have a positive, albeit small, impact on economic growth even without considering the role of institutions. When institutions are included, the pattern of response remains unaltered. A distinction between low versus high remittances participation in economic activity evidences that, although the impact of remittances on growth is similar, appreciation of the exchange rate occurs in economies with high remittances participation. Finally, a distinction by geographical region reveals that Eastern European economies receive the greatest benefit from these flows, followed by the Americas and Asia; however, African economic growth does not appear to have a statistically significant impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terms of the degree-of-freedom of bank loan decision-making, the ratio of loans of private enterprises and individuals to total loans is used to measure the development of China's financial intermediation. Applying generalized method of moments estimation developed for dynamic panel data models, the present paper finds that the effect of financial intermediation development on economic growth is positive and statistically significant when controlling for other variables, such as human capital, foreign direct investment, securitization and foreign trade. The empirical results indicate that the concept of the so-called Chinese counterexample in financial development is questionable. Financial system reforms, including encouraging banks to operate independently, reducing or eliminating mandatory loans, and making financial decision-making more market-oriented, are important for China's economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international donor community has grave concerns about the effectiveness of aid to countries it classifies as ‘fragile states’. The impact of aid on growth and poverty reduction and the ability to efficiently absorb additional inflows is thought to be significantly lower in these countries compared to other recipients. This paper examines this issue and suggests that a while a number of fragile states can efficiently absorb more aid than they have received, a number receive far more aid than they can efficiently absorb from a perspective based purely on per capita income growth. Policy recommendations are provided. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the variables that moderate the impact of financial development on economic growth based on theoretical and empirical evidences. We show that financial and economic development, institutions and macroeconomic stability are the fundamental variables that moderate the finance‐growth nexus. Specifically, higher levels of financial and economic development, institutional quality and macroeconomic stability promote the impact of financial development on economic growth, while lower levels of these variables could have the opposite effect. We also show that too much finance is deleterious to economic growth, suggesting the existence of a threshold level of financial development beyond which further finance inhibits, rather than enhances growth. The economic implication of this study is that a stable macroeconomic environment, higher level of institutional quality, optimum financial and economic development are necessary conditions for finance to accelerate growth. Hence, countries that want to promote economic growth through the financial sector should give adequate priority to these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the impact of political competition on economic growth. In this paper, I show that internal political dynamics, distinct from the type of political system, can having different effects on growth. Using results from the 1994 and 1999 elections in South Africa, I show that municipalities with higher levels of political competition have shown lower levels of economic growth. I use individual level surveys to show that this political competition is associated with political paralysis, dissatisfaction with the current democracy and government and lower optimism about the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of remittances on economic growth, using developing countries in Asia and the Pacific as a case study. Using data for the period 1993–2013, our results show that remittances only generate negative and significant impacts on economic growth if they reach 10 percent of GDP or higher. A remittances‐to‐GDP ratio of below 10 percent could still impact growth negatively, but the effect is statistically insignificant. The present study finds some degree of substitutability between remittances and financial development. Foreign direct investment (FDI), but not other types of capital inflow, contributes significantly to economic growth. Other traditional growth engines, including education, trade openness, and domestic investment, are crucial in promoting growth in developing Asian and Pacific nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite phenomenal technological progress and exponential growth in computing power, economic growth remains comparative sluggish. In this paper, we investigate two core issues: (1) is there really no connection between ICT and national economic growth? and (2) what factors moderate the ICT–growth relationship? We apply meta‐regression analysis to 466 estimates drawn from 59 econometric studies that explore the Solow or Productivity Paradox that there is little impact of ICT on economic growth and productivity. We explore the differential impact of ICT on developed and developing countries and the differential impact of different types of ICT: landlines, cell phones, computer technology and Internet access. After accommodating potential econometric misspecification bias and publication selection bias, we detect evidence that ICT has indeed contributed positively to economic growth, at least on average. Both developed and developing countries benefit from landline and cell technologies, with cell technologies’ growth effect approximately twice as strong as landlines. However, developed countries gain significantly more from computing than do developing countries. In contrast, we find little evidence that the Internet has had a positive impact on growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the nature of structural change and the sources of economic growth of an economy, especially the relative importance of different industries, is essential for policy-making. This paper estimates industry contribution to economic growth in both Canada and the United States. It argues that industry contribution should be evaluated on the basis of the performance of an industry in terms of creating economic value relative to other industries. In particular, it calls for the quantity and the price effects, which is consistent with real GDP in the chained-Fisher index that values the industry more when its price rises and less when its price declines. This is an important departure from the traditional methodologies that consider only quantity effect. This paper shows that the contribution from demand-driven industries is significantly more than the finding based on traditional thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the impact of financial development on economic growth in a sample of 32 Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. The countries were grouped into four sub‐regions, and data were collected for the period 1990–2016 on finance and growth indicators on an annual basis. In the estimation procedure, panel estimation and dynamic panel techniques were used. When the disaggregated components of financial development variables were used, findings, among others, reveal the role of credit to the private sector by banks (CPB) even though mixed, to have more impact on growth followed by broad money (BM) and liquidity liability (LL). However, an aggregated index of the financial development indicators via principal component analysis and their simultaneous interaction with human capital improvement brought about a greater positive impact on growth throughout the sub‐regions and the entire SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares the economic progress of two countries, South Africa and China, in relation to the Lewis model. These economies are chosen because they have interesting similarities and also interesting differences. At the start of economic reform in China and with the advent of democracy in South Africa, both countries had surplus labour: they were at the first, labour‐surplus, stage of the Lewis model. It is shown that, since then, South Africa has continued to experience surplus labour: the unemployment rate has risen. By contrast, China's labour market is shown to have tightened, and there is evidence that China has entered the second, labour‐scarce, stage of the Lewis model. The difference lies in their growth rates. There are sections explaining why the South African economy has grown slowly and why the Chinese economy has grown rapidly, in relation to the growth of their labour forces. The Lewis model provides an enlightening framework for explaining how widely the fruits of economic development can be shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the long-run and short-run relationship between tourism, real effective exchange rate and economic growth in Croatia. The econometric framework used for analysis is the Johansen Maximum Likelihood cointegration technique. For testing the stability of long-run equilibrium relationship vector error correction model technique has been applied on a quarterly data set covering the period 1996-2013. The main findings of the paper confirm the stability of the long-run equilibrium relationship between tourist arrivals (ARRIVAL), openness of the economy (OPEN) and real effective exchange rate as independent variable and gross domestic product (GDP) as dependent variable in Croatia. Furthermore, the results indicate short-run causality between OPEN and GDP, as well as between real effective exchange rate and GDP. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption is a symptom of weak institutional quality and could have potentially adverse effects on economic growth. However, heterogeneity in reported findings makes it difficult to synthesize the evidence base with a view to test competing hypotheses and/or support evidence-based policy and practice. To address this issue, we have extracted 327 estimates of corruption's direct effect on per-capita GDP growth from 29 primary studies, following a peer-reviewed and pre-published systematic review protocol. Precision-effect and funnel asymmetry tests indicate that corruption has a negative effect on per-capita GDP growth after controlling for publication selection bias and within-study dependence. However, multivariate meta-regression analysis results indicate that the overall effect is not robust to inclusion of moderating variables through a general-to-specific procedure for model specification. We report that the marginal effect of corruption on per-capita GDP growth is more adverse when the primary study estimates relate to long-run growth, are based on low-income-country data only, and extracted from journal papers. The effect is less adverse in studies that use the International Country Risk Guide corruption perceptions index and in those reporting estimates from two-stage least-squares estimations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational investments in farmland in developing economies are recent and controversial. While they bring developmental opportunities including capital deepening, new technology, and employment opportunities, there are also concerns about the dislocation of local farmers and insufficient compensation for land use. This paper investigates how these seemingly conflicting effects interact in the process of economic growth by fitting a dynamic general equilibrium model to Ghanaian data. The differing effects of two common foreign investment activities, grain farming and biofuel production, are investigated. Grain farming investments tend to promote capital accumulation and increase income and consumption over the transition, whereas labor income is adversely affected. Biofuel projects induce the reverse. Results identify the relative labor intensity of technology on foreign‐operated farms, which affects the returns to domestic capital and the pace of capital deepening, as a major determinant of the long‐term effect of farmland investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyses how the functional components of public expenditure and spending‐driven consolidations affect the economic growth, unemployment, and income inequality. A dynamic panel data least squares dummy variable estimator estimator is employed over a sample of 15 European Union countries during the period 1990–2012. The empirical results show that real GDP growth decreases when fiscal austerity measures are implemented, especially if they are spending‐driven. Cuts in public expenditure undermine economic growth, namely if they slash spending on public order, recreation, and education. Spending cuts on education, in particular, affect the investment in human capital, harming not only growth but also economic, social, and human development. The unemployment rate also proved to be significantly boosted when austerity measures restrict spending on education, whereas income inequality rises when social protection expenditures are cut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper uses the theoretical framework developed by Feder (1983) and Ram (1986) to examine interactions (i.e. externalities and intersectoral factor productivity differentials) between the official and unofficial sectors of the economy. Results from the empirical analysis, using data on over 100 countries from 1970 to 2008, suggest that the marginal externality effect of growth in the unofficial sector on the official sector is positive. Further, input productivities are higher in the unofficial sector relative to the official sector. These results are robust using alternate measures of the (unobserved) unofficial economy and across level of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is known to have an exceptionally low level of inward foreign direct investment (FDI). The promotion of inward FDI is one of the policy goals of Abenomics structural reforms. This present paper studies the accumulation of Japan's inward FDI stock during the first 3 years of Abenomics (2012-2015), and finds no evidence that Japan's inward FDI stock increased more than the trend before Abenomics started would have predicted. A comparison of the main policies for promoting inward FDI that have been implemented to the real and perceived impediments to inward FDI reveals that it may be advisable to shift the emphasis of the policy to address more regulatory and administrative issues and to reduce the cost of doing business in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out a framework for analyzing the impact of public investments on industry-level productivity and economic growth. The concept of capital in the public sector is broadened from that which is mostly tangible (e.g. physical infrastructure) to that which also includes intangibles and long-lasting societal assets. For the analysis of public investments, we find that in addition to expanding the asset boundary, national accounts also need to: (a) impute a net return to government and other non-market capital-or provide industry-level data by institutional sector of origin, allowing researchers to do so; (b) include all public payments to industry in industry-level gross operating surplus (i.e. all subsidies, production, and product, and the annuity value of investment grants); and (c) provide crosswalks for key components of government expenditure by function of government (e.g. public funds for extramural R&D or worker training) to kind-of-activity classifications used for industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demographic dividend, that is, the growth of the working age population aged 16 years relative to younger and older age dependents, has often been cited as a crucial component of the accelerated economic growth experienced by disparate countries and regions at different points in time. Generally less emphasized are the ramifications of this process when it occurs in reverse; that is, when the relative size of the working age population begins to shrink. Related to this is the more subtle effect of changes to the age structure of the overall working age population, which can have compounding or offsetting effects in relation to the demographic dividend noted above. This paper explores how these age-related phenomena were instrumental to both the Great Depression and the Great Recession of 2008. We explore how the generational composition of economic actors and the aging of the baby-boom worker may have played a role in provoking these remarkable recessionary periods. The reversal of the demographic dividend and the aging of the working age population are factors now contributing to the propagation of the global economic downturn, as witnessed in the example of Japan over the past half-century. This paper applies the lessons of the Great Depression, the Great Recession and Japan to offer a forward-looking analysis of the Chinese economy. China is on the precipice of a significant demographic shift whose implications for economic growth are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]