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The empirical relationship between trade protection and economic growth is surprisingly fragile, as shown in a number of other papers. We address one possible explanation for these findings: that the relationship is contingent on the pattern of comparative advantage, following the endogenous growth literature. Our findings suggest that such contingencies do in fact exist-in particular, the correlation between tariffs and growth is strong and positive for skill-abundant countries-and are robust to the choice of control variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was designed to reveal the economic, social, and environmental trade-offs associated with conventional economic growth as traditionally measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although originally designed for use at the national scale, an interest has developed in the United States in a state-level uptake of the GPI to inform and guide policy. This study presents the first fifty-state estimate for U.S. GPI in order to address questions over its design, implementation, and ultimate potential as a tool to guide state-level economic policy. Following a review of the current state of analysis and critique of GPI, we provide an overview of methodology and database development. Results are then presented, including discussion of lessons learned through a fifty-state application. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research and next steps to consolidating a consistent methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czech experience suggests that the gross domestic product (GDP) real growth rates do not perfectly express the real growth in small and highly open economies with improving terms of trade. The improvement in terms of trade has much to do with the strong catch-up in quality, recently observed in the Czech Republic. While the Czech GDP real growth rates were relatively low in comparison with other CEECs, the dynamics of gross domestic income, which is the indicator taking into account profits (or losses) stemming from change in terms of trade, suggest a more favorable picture. Moreover, a question arises as to, whether strong changes in quality are fully mirrored in the real growth rates of standard macroeconomic indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports that output and jobs slowed at the turn of the year. Employment in January was unchanged for the second time in three months, bracketing a 0.2% gain in December. Output edged up 0.2% in November after two months of little change. Despite the recent slowdown, economic growth held up remarkably well in the second half of the year. Job growth matched the first half's 0.7% increase, while GDP almost matched its 1.6% first-half pace. Manufacturers reined in both output and jobs after the dollar began its rapid ascent at mid-year. But other industries picked up the slack, notably mining, construction and trade.

This article presents an in-depth study of the regional dualistic growth pattern of the Chinese economy from 1984 to 1993. After opening up its economy to the rest of the world in 1979, China has been able to double its gross domestic product (GDP) twice by 1994, with an average annual real growth rate of 10.5%. However, Chinese economic growth has been uneven as is evident from disparate growth rates especially between the Eastern (coastal) and the Western (far inland) regions of the country. The imbalance in economic growth between the two regions has been exacerbated since China further opened the coastal region in 1984. For instance, the economic growth rate of the Eastern region was 11.4% on average from 1984 to 1993, while it was 8.9% for the Western region. This led to an increased economic gap between the two regions. In 1993 the GDP per capita of the Eastern region was 2.3 times as much as that of the Western region. The economic disparity between the two regions can be attributed to many factors, such as economic reforms and an open-door policy in favour of the Eastern region, differences in economic structures and resource conditions, a coast-orientated regional policy, and consequently differential impacts of foreign trade and foreign investment. The uneven growth and resulting increased interregional economic disparity in China have become a new focus for development economists and policy makers. Several studies have examined the influence of economic reforms and regional policy on regional economic development in China. Another group of scholars has studied regional impacts of foreign trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) in particular. These scholars have found that the impact of foreign trade and FDI on the economic development of China are different between the Eastern and Western regions.