The Image of Australia. Perceptions of the Australian Economy from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

Recent institutionalist and post-Keynesian work on business cycles continues with the traditional institutionalist supposition that financial bubbles drive cycles; however there has been a growing sense in the literature that household consumption, not business investment, has become the key variable. This paper will show how this is a change from historical institutional theory and it will then discuss how this change pushes income distribution toward a more central role in explaining current cycle dynamics. Specifically, this paper argues that much of the economic growth over the last two decades can be attributed to the top two quintiles borrowing more and the current slow growth can be attributed to high quintile households increasing their consumption while middle income households are continuing to deleverage.     

Functional distribution of income,aggregate demand,and economic growth in the Chinese economy, 1978–2007

This paper seeks to analyse the relationship between the functional distribution of income, aggregate demand and growth in the Chinese reform economy. For this purpose, the Bhaduri-Marglin Model is used to indicate the theoretical possibility of both profit-led and wage-led growth regimes. Previously, the principal literature on the evolution of factor shares in China was reviewed. The statistical series for the period 1978–2007 are reconstructed to carry out our analysis of the relations between capital share and investment, on one hand, and labour share and consumption, on the other. Supported by empirical analysis and the model estimations, it is argued that Chinese growth has been profit-driven. Finally, the implications are presented concerning Chinese economic prospects.     

A Post-Keynesian Response to Piketty's ‘Fundamental Contradiction of Capitalism’

In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty presents a rich set of data that deals with income and wealth distribution, output-wealth dynamics and rates of return. He also proposes some ‘laws of capitalism’. At the core of his argument lies the ‘fundamental inequality of capitalism’, an empirical regularity stating that the rate of return on wealth is greater than the growth rate of the economy. This simple construct allows him to conclude that increasing wealth (and income) inequality is an inevitable outcome of capitalism. While we share some of his conclusions, we will highlight some shortcomings of his approach based on a Cambridge post-Keynesian growth-and-distribution model. The paper makes four points. First, r?>?g is not necessarily associated with increasing inequality in functional distribution. Second, Piketty succumbs to a fallacy of composition when he claims that a necessary condition for r?>?g is that capitalists save a large share of their capital income. Third, post-Keynesians can learn from Piketty's insights about personal income distribution and incorporate them into their models. Fourth, we reiterate the post-Keynesian argument that a well-behaved aggregate production function does not exist and cannot explain income distribution.     

Causality between government spending and income: the case of Saudi Arabia

The paper investigates the Granger-causal relationship between government spending (G) and income (Y) for Saudi Arabia for which G is the main driver of economic growth. Previous studies investigated two-way causality, from G to Y (Keynesian) and from Y to G (Wagnerian). This paper investigates a new explanation (post-Keynesian) that links Y to G through banks’ loan-making and deposit-creation. The latter is accompanied by an increase in statutory reserves (R). The findings are consistent with the post-Keynesian theory (from Y to R, and to G).     

Do channels of financial integration matter for FDI’s impact on growth? Empirical evidence using a panel

This paper adds to the debate on the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth which suggest that the link between FDI and economic growth is rather the consequence of both FDI and growth responding endogenously to economic integration. We investigate if the impact of FDI on growth is dependent on the channel of integration used to attract FDI. We use four different indexes of economic integration including Trade Openness, Chinn-Ito, and KOF and our newly constructed index of financial integration. We employ these four indexes to investigate the role played by economic integration in linking FDI and growth. We use a panel consisting of 134 developing countries and data spanning the period 1989-2017 estimated using the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique. The results show that FDI is an important determinant of growth. The results also suggest that at least some of the integration variables do matter and work as channels to attract FDI leading to growth. However, after stratifying countries by income level, we also find that integration matters mainly for high income countries. Integration variables for other income groups do not show much significance. These are interesting results and may have important policy implications.     

收入不平等与经济增长：移动的库兹涅茨曲线*——新时期收入分配改革的思路与意义

准确判断收入不平等对经济增长的影响，对于客观评价中国各个阶段的收入分配制度改革尤为重要。本文在统一增长理论的框架下引入收入不平等因素，构建了一个人口数量、不平等和经济增长同时内生的理论模型，并利用CGSS数据构造收入不平等指标，使用中国省际非平衡面板数据进行经验检验。研究发现：收入不平等与经济增长之间呈现倒U型关系。更重要的是，随着经济发展水平的提高，倒U型曲线将逐渐向左移动，即最优的收入不平等程度随着经济发展水平的提高而逐渐降低。这一发现意味着改革开放以来，中国各个时期的收入分配制度改革均是在特定历史条件下的最优选择。本文的结论具有深刻的政策含义：为了提高经济增长率，需要进一步巩固“脱贫攻坚”成果，逐渐加大收入分配调节力度，使收入分配制度改革紧跟经济发展的步伐，根据经济发展水平不断缩小收入不平等程度。     

In search of thresholds in the household income inequality–growth relationship

This paper investigates the shape of the relationship between household income inequality and economic growth. More precisely we search for the existence of threshold values in this relationship by employing a dynamic panel smooth transition regression model to account for potential endogeneity problems. We find that there do exist threshold values (that are different for different groups of countries): below the threshold, household income inequality is growth enhancing, while above the threshold, inequality has a negative or no effect on economic growth.     

Neoliberal growth models,monetary union and the Euro crisis. A post-Keynesian perspective

The paper offers an account of the Euro crisis based on post-Keynesian monetary theory and its typology of demand regimes. Neoliberalism has transformed social and financial relations in Europe but it has not given rise to a sustained profit-led growth process. Instead, growth has relied either on financial bubbles and rising household debt (‘debt-driven growth’) or on net exports (‘export-driven growth’). In Europe the financial crisis has been amplified by an economic policy architecture (the Stability and Growth Pact) that aimed at restricting the role of fiscal policy and monetary policy. This neoliberal economic policy regime in conjunction with the separation of monetary and fiscal spheres has turned the financial crisis of 2007 into a sovereign debt crisis in southern Europe.     

Income inequality and economic growth—the Kuznets curve revisited

In a neoclassical growth framework with a typical political-economy mechanism, this paper reexamines the relationship between the income inequality and economic growth by introducing government spending into the production function and the utility function. It demonstrates that Kuznets’ famous inverted-U shape relationship between inequality and economic growth will hold—the growth rate will be first increasing with the income inequality before the growth rate decreases with inequality. __________ Translated from The Journal of World Economy (世界经济), 2005,(5) (in Chinese)     

Causal relationship between energy consumption and GDP growth revisited: A dynamic panel data approach

This paper uses the panel data of energy consumption and GDP for 82 countries from 1972 to 2002. Based on the income levels defined by the World Bank, the data are divided into four categories: low income group, lower middle income group, upper middle income group, and high income group. We employ the GMM-SYS approach for the estimation of the panel VAR model in each of the four groups. Afterwards, the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is tested and ascertained. We discover: (a) in the low income group, there exists no causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth; (b) in the middle income groups (lower and upper middle income groups), economic growth leads energy consumption positively; (c) in the high income group countries, economic growth leads energy consumption negatively. After further in-depth analysis of energy related data, the results indicate that, in the high income group, there is a great environmental improvement as a result of more efficient energy use and reduction in the release of CO₂. However, in the upper middle income group countries, after the energy crisis, the energy efficiency declines and the release of CO₂ rises. Since there is no evidence indicating that energy consumption leads economic growth in any of the four income groups, a stronger energy conservation policy should be pursued in all countries.     

经济增长、产业结构与农村减贫——基于省际面板数据的实证分析

在经济增长与减贫关系问题上,大量的实证研究仅仅用经济增长以及伴随增长过程的收入分配状态作为解释变量,其结论与现实的契合性不够稳定。通过在计量模型中加入产业结构、农业生产条件、农业扶贫与发展政策等关键性的中间变量,并采用跨越"八七扶贫攻坚"期间和新世纪"农村扶贫开发"两个发展时期的省际面板数据,实证分析表明经济增长在农村减贫中具有重要地位,城乡收入差距扩大对农村减贫具有显著的负效应。与现有的大量实证研究结论不同,本研究表明不同产业在经济发展的不同阶段对农村减贫的影响是不同的,三次产业发展对农村贫困的影响发生了一定程度的逆转。因此,新时期反贫困战略也应做出相应的调整。     

Redistribution and growth: Pareto improvements

This paper analyzes the relationship between income distribution and economic growth. It introduces heterogeneous households who have preferences for leisure into Grossman and Helpman's model of endogenous growth (in which income distribution has no effect on economic growth). Wealth distribution affects the endogenous rate of growth as the labor supply of each individual responds inversely to his permanent income. When the labor Engel curve is concave (convex), unequal wealth distribution decreases (increases) the rate of growth. Pareto-improving-growth-enhancing wealth redistributions are characterized.     

On wage- and profit-led demand regimes: learning from the evidence

Abstract

This paper contributes to the empirical research around the “wage-led” or “profit-led” demand regimes. It first reviews how Kalecki, and then Steindl, approached the relationship between economic growth and income distribution. Then, empirical analysis carried out under the probabilistic approach to econometric modeling shows statistical evidence, estimated through cointegration analysis, that in the long run, in three very open economies—Mexico, France, and Korea—the wage share is positively associated with demand and output. It finally discusses the macroeconomic dilemma that almost all countries have to face, i.e., a positive effect of a high-wage policy on demand and employment may diverge from a negative effect on output compatible with external equilibrium.     

Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from American Data

While most cross-country studies find a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth, studies that use panel data suggest the presence of a positive relationship between inequality and growth. This paper uses a cross-state panel for the United States to assess the relationship between inequality and growth. Using both standard fixed effects and GMM estimations, this paper does not find evidence of a positive relationship between inequality and growth but finds some evidence in support of a negative relationship between inequality and growth. The paper, however, shows that the relationship between inequality and growth is not robust and that small differences in the method used to measure inequality can result in large differences in the estimated relationship between inequality and growth.     

经济增长、收入分配与贫困规模变动相关性研究--来自北京市城市居民的经验数据

文章详细讨论了经济增长、不平等与贫困规模变动的相互关系,在确立三者关系基本框架的基础上,构造了应用Lorenz曲线及其相应弹性分析三者关系的理论模型,并提出了亲贫困增长指数的概念。在对北京城市居民的经验数据进行分析的基础之上得到的结论是:政府制定扶贫政策的选择应该使收入增长效应与收入不平等效应之和最大化,这为制定扶贫政策提供了决策依据。     

Democracy and Growth: Alternative Approaches

This article focuses on two previously unexamined aspects of the relationship between economic growth and democracy. First, the growth experiences of countries that experience significant changes in democracy are examined directly. Countries that democratize are found to grow faster than a priori similar countries, while countries that become less democratic grow more slowly than comparable countries. These differences do not seem to be due to differences in education or investment levels. Second, regression tree analysis suggests that democracy, along with initial income and literacy, contributes to the identification of regimes of countries facing similar aggregate production functions.     

An empirical test of the Post-Keynesian growth model applied to functional income distribution and the growth regime in Brazil

The main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether, between 1970 and 2008, the Brazilian economy was profit-led or wage-led. To this end, we approach a canonical post-Keynesian growth model (PKGM) to estimate certain vector autoregressive (VAR) models and perform Granger non-causality tests. Three main results are extracted from the generalized impulse-response functions provided by the VAR models. First, a positive profit-share innovation affects economic growth and capacity utilization rate, both in the same direction, suggesting a profit-led pattern. Second, a profit share shock positively affects both the ratio actual/potential output, and capital accumulation, reinforcing the previous result. Third, a capacity utilization shock is shown to positively affect both output growth and capital accumulation via the accelerator effect. On the one hand, the pairwise Granger non-causality test does not provide any evidence of causality running from profit share to economic growth or capacity utilization. On the other hand, there is some evidence of Granger causality running from profit share to capital accumulation.     

Income inequality and economic growth

Despite the extensive existing literature on income inequality and economic growth, there remains considerable disagreement on the effect of inequality on economic growth. Existing literatures find either a positive or a negative relationship. In this paper, we attempt to theoretically examine that relationship with a stochastic optimal growth model. We make the disagreement clear within a single model. We conclude (i) that both are possible – that is, higher inequality can retard growth in the early stage of economic development, and can encourage growth in a near steady state, (ii) that income redistribution by high income tax does not always reduce income inequality. Income inequality can be reduced by higher income tax in a near steady state, but it cannot be reduced in the early stage of economic development, and (iii) that two government polices – rapid economic growth and low income inequality – can be achieved by low income tax in the early stage of economic development, but both cannot be achieved simultaneously in a near steady state.     

What you export matters

When local cost discovery generates knowledge spillovers, specialization patterns become partly indeterminate and the mix of goods that a country produces may have important implications for economic growth. We demonstrate this proposition formally and adduce some empirical support for it. We construct an index of the “income level of a country’s exports,” document its properties, and show that it predicts subsequent economic growth.     

Productivity,Economic Growth and the Middle Income Trap： Implications for China

This paper explores the middle income trap （MIT） concept from the perspective of productivity growth. Through the examination of cross-country historical statistics as well as China＇s regional data, it sheds light on the debate about whether the Chinese economy can avoid the middle income trap. It should be one of the first papers proposing an analytical framework to address this controversial issue. The findings should have important implications for economic policies guiding China＇s development in the coming decades.