Dynamic Scoring in a Romer‐Style Economy

This article analyzes how changes in tax rates affect government revenue in a Romer‐style endogenous growth model. Lower tax rates on financial income (returns to physical capital and intellectual property) are partially self‐financing primarily because lower financial income taxes stimulate innovation and enhance labor productivity in the long run. In the baseline calibration, about half of a tax cut is self‐financing in the long run, substantially more than in the Ramsey model. The dynamics of the economy's response to a tax cut are very sluggish and, for some variables, nonmonotonic.     

Appropriation,firm dynamics,and wage inequality

This paper examines the income distribution and welfare effects of appropriation activities in an economy. In the short run, with a given number of firms, appropriation can narrow wage inequality between skilled and unskilled labor when the capital resources accrued by appropriators are not large. However, wage inequality widens when the capital accrued is large. In the long run, with free entry and exit of firms, an increase in appropriation can cause firms to enter when the accrued capital is not large. This gives rise to a win–win outcome by raising the wages of skilled and unskilled labor. However, if accrued capital is large, firms exit and a lose–lose situation may occur in which skilled and unskilled wages are reduced.     

Historical accidents and the persistence of distributional conflicts

This paper studies a politico-economic dynamic model of endogenous growth where the political conflict focuses on the amount of resources devoted to public education. We show that if people also have the choice between investing or not investing in private human capital, multiple equilibria in growth and income distribution may arise in the long run. An inegalitarian equilibrium may coexist with an egalitarian one, the initial distribution of income completely determining which equilibrium finally is reached. We then discuss the impact of temporary political accidents such as reduced political rights on the dynamics of growth and inequality.     

FOSTERING OR STRIPPING RURAL CHINA: MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE AND RURAL TO URBAN CAPITAL FLOWS

The present study focuses on the flow of fiscal and financial resources in China's rural economy during the first two decades of reform. Specifically, we seek to quantify the nature and direction of the capital flows between agriculture and the non‐agricultural sectors and between the rural and non‐rural sectors. We track identify the flows of three main sources of capital: fiscal flows, financial shifts through the formal banking system, and the implicit taxes that are moving through the grain system as a result of payment of in‐kind (e.g., delivery quotas by farmers). Through this analysis, we provide policy makers with a set of measures showing that although in recent years the agriculture‐to‐industry and rural‐to‐urban flows have appeared to reverse themselves, as late as 2000 it does not appear as if the government is not directing enough resources into the rural economy. Greater flows, however, are needed if rural China is to modernize.     

Note on global dynamics and imbalance effects in the Lucas–Uzawa model

In the traditional literature on the Lucas–Uzawa model, it is proved that in the so‐called normal parametric case, human capital stock grows at a rate greater than its long‐run counterpart in the neighbourhood of the long‐run balanced growth path. We first prove that the claim is true outside the neighborhood of balanced growth paths. More importantly, we identify a crucial asymmetry: whatever the parametric case considered, physical capital stock always grows at a rate lower than its long‐run counterpart when the ratio of physical to human capital is above its long‐run value.     

Trade Opening,Fiscal Reforms,Poverty, and Inequality: A CGE Analysis for Bangladesh

We assess the short‐ and long‐run impacts of tariff reform policies on Bangladeshi households' poverty and income distribution by developing an 86‐sector, four‐factor, and nine‐household‐group computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The main findings are that the complete removal of tariffs leads to a decrease in overall poverty with rich household groups in a relatively better position. In the short run poverty incidence increases for rural landless, urban illiterate, and low‐educated household groups whereas rural large farmer and urban medium household groups enjoy improvements in all poverty indicators. In terms of income distribution, trade liberalization enhances inequality slightly, but there is a tendency towards more equitable distribution in the long run. The choice of a fiscal compensatory mechanism with consumption tax is likely to play a negative role in terms of poverty and inequality in the short run; however, interestingly, the results are pro‐poor in the long run.     

A new class of production functions and an argument against purely labor‐augmenting technical change

This paper derives the macro‐level production function from idea‐based microfoundations. Labor‐augmenting and capital‐augmenting developments are assumed to be Pareto‐distributed and mutually dependent. Using the Clayton copula family to capture this dependence, a new “Clayton–Pareto” class of production functions is derived that nests both the Cobb–Douglas and the constant elasticity of substitution. In the most general case, technical change is not purely labor‐augmenting over the long run, but it augments both capital and labor. Under certain parametrizations, the derived elasticity of substitution between capital and labor exceeds unity and, therefore, gives rise to long‐run endogenous growth.     

Dynamic Relationships between Exchange Rates and Foreign Direct Investment: Empirical Evidence from Korea

This paper examines the short‐run and long‐run dynamic relationships between exchange rates and foreign direct investment (FDI) in Korea. Monthly data retrieved from the Bank of Korea from January 1999 to March 2012 are examined. A cointegration test, a vector error correction model, the Wald test and impulse responses techniques are applied to analyze the data. The present study finds that, first, long‐run causation between exchange rates and FDI flows exists, which implies that a change in exchange rates negatively affects FDI flows in the long run. Second, short‐run causation between exchange rates and FDI flows exists, which confirms that there is reciprocal feedback between the two variables. Finally, the study finds evidence of a structural break from the global financial crisis of 2007–2009 shock to FDI flows in Korea. An external shock affects changes in the endogenous variables and, thus, causes instability in the cointegrating vector in the system.     

Capital market distortion,firm entry and wage inequality

Distortions in the capital market are notable in developing economies like China. By building up a dual production structure with oligopolistic competition in urban manufacturing, this paper investigates the distributional and welfare effects of capital market distortions. We find that in the short run, an increase in the capital market distortion in favor of urban firms can lower both the skilled and unskilled wages. However, in the long run, the preferential policy on reducing capital cost to the urban sector attracts new entry of firms, which can worsen the skilled-unskilled wage inequality in the economy. This firm-entry effect of the capital market distortion on wage inequality is empirically confirmed for China.     

环境污染、人力资本与内生经济增长：一个简单的模型

为研究经济增长和环境污染之间的关系,本文建立了两个不同的经济增长模型,并分别在新古典和内生经济增长的框架下考察了环境污染、人力资本和经济增长的内在关系,同时还在经济增长的均衡路径上考察了不同变量对可持续发展的可能影响。模型的结果表明,经济增长并不必然导致环境恶化,可持续发展是有可能实现的。进一步的比较静态分析显示,要使经济增长走向可持续发展,必须增加人力资本的积累、实行严格的污染排放标准、坚持可持续发展理念、提高社会的环境保护意识、促进环保型生产技术的进步等。     

Global Imbalances or why are the Poor Financing the Rich?

Summary Traditional economic models predict that capital should flow from capital-rich to capital-poor economies. In recent years, capital has been flowing in the opposite direction, although foreign direct investment flows do behave more in line with theory. Do these perverse patterns of flows dampen growth in non-industrial countries by depriving them of financing for investment? On the contrary, the evidence suggests non-industrial countries that have relied more on foreign finance have not grown faster in the long run. At the same time, growth and the extent of foreign financing are positively correlated in industrial countries. I argue that the reason for this difference may lie in the limited ability of non-industrial countries to absorb foreign capital. This paper draws heavily from work with Eswar Prasad and Arvind Subramanian, who should share the credit for the contents. I alone am responsible for remaining errors.     

国际人口迁移、信贷约束与人力资本积累

本文以收入不平等与经济增长的关系为基础,在信贷市场不完全的条件下,进一步考察了熟练劳动力跨国迁移对发展中国家人力资本积累及经济增长的影响。分析显示,基于跨国移民的"教育激励"效应对发展中国家的人力资本积累及经济增长的影响在短期和长期存在差异。短期中,基于跨国移民的"教育激励"效应会减缓"人才流失"效应对发展中国家人力资本积累及经济增长的负面影响,甚至可能会提高发展中国家熟练劳动力的比重,从而促进人均收入水平的提高。长期中,当代际转移收敛于稳态水平时,国际人口迁移不再具有"教育激励"效应,而国际人口迁移的"人才流失"效应则会继续损害人力资本积累,从而对发展中国家的人均收入产生负面影响。     

COLONIALISM AND LONG‐RUN GROWTH IN AUSTRALIA: AN EXAMINATION OF INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN VICTORIA'S WATER SECTOR DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Institutional change in water rights in the nineteenth century Australian colony of Victoria raised institutional efficiency, which contributed to long‐run economic growth. High‐quality human capital and the extension of voting rights (franchise) were crucial for efficient institutional change in the water sector. Quality human capital (literacy) appeared to increase the rural population's awareness of the economic impact of the existing structure of water rights that may have constrained growth in the agricultural sector and reduced investment incentives. Extension of the franchise allowed the rural population to exert political pressure for enactment of change in water rights, which resulted in efficiency‐enhancing policies and efficient institutions. The findings show these two factors were more important than Victoria's British colonial heritage in determining whether growth‐enhancing institutional change took place.     

Human capital,technological progress and trade: What explains India's long run growth?

Using data for the period 1950–2010, this paper seeks to explain the importance of human capital, technological progress, and trade in determining India's long run growth. This paper uses an improved growth accounting framework and ARDL-based co-integration techniques to identify the factors that drive long run productivity growth. The results suggest that both domestic technology capability building and foreign technology spillovers are important forces in determining India's long run growth. Human capital has turned out to be the most important factor. Trade plays a facilitating role by making available frontier technology in an embodied form from the rest-of-the-world. Although the analysis does not explicitly test any endogenous growth models, our findings are consistent with the recent endogenous growth literature.     

Tax policy implications for a two‐engine growing economy

In an endogenous growth model with two engines of R&D and capital, we investigate the environment of “inclusive growth” for tax reallocations (tax increases or tax credits) to gain broader benefits in terms of promoting the overall GDP growth without an increase in income inequality. Our results show that a tax increase in the capital‐good sector can result in inclusive growth, boosting overall growth and reducing income inequality, provided that the status quo tax rate is not too high. Surprisingly, tax credits are not able to achieve such inclusive growth. While the GDP growth rises, a tax credit in the R&D sector not only increases income inequality but also decreases the aggregate employment, if the labor mobility cost between the final‐good and R&D/capital‐good sectors is relatively low. This provides a caution to policymakers given the fact that research tax credits have served as a common incentive to strengthen the R&D environment.     

DELAYS IN STABILIZATION OR IN REFORMS? THE DEBT CRISIS

Empirical analyses attributing the 1980s’ debt crisis to inconsistent stabilization policies rest on an inappropriate long‐run approach. Revising this long‐run approach yields opposite results: terms of trade shocks and foreign indebtedness explain this crisis, regardless of domestic stabilization policies. This prompts us to consider a new hypothesis, of delays in trade‐policy reforms, with a model in which terms‐of‐trade variation (under shocks) is endogenous to export structure and efficiency of resource allocation. Evidence from the structural equations model shows that allocation distortions negatively affect changes in terms of trade, which then explain this crisis. A political economy extension demonstrates that income inequality and regional trade policy determine the distortions, which in turn leads to this crisis.     

On Persistent Poverty in a Rich Country

We examine differences in income within the United States, and the regions of persistent poverty that have arisen, using a newly assembled county‐level data set linking 19th century Census data with contemporary data. We identify the roles of current differences in aggregate production technologies and factor endowments, together with contributions of historical institutions, culture, geography, and human capital. We allow for possible cross‐county factor mobility via a correlated random effects GMM estimator and find evidence of significant regional differences in production technologies. Our decompositions of the poor/nonpoor income gap suggest that at least three‐fourths of the gap is explained by differences in productive factors. Persistently poor counties are different (and poorer) primarily because they have lower levels of factors of production, not because they use the factors they have less efficiently. Together, historical and contemporary human capital explain over half of the overall income gap between persistently poor and nonpoor counties.     

Imported Capital Goods and Manufacturing Productivity: Evidence from Botswana's Manufacturing Sector

This article examines the effects of imported capital goods on manufacturing productivity growth in Botswana. Despite consistent efforts aimed at diversification, Botswana's economy has remained heavily dependent on diamond exports, and the country's productivity remains a point of concern. The ability to apply foreign technologies to increase productivity and spur diversification is limited by the foreign exchange gap. This study uses an imported input growth model to analyse how the importation of capital goods contributes to enabling productivity growth and export diversification. With a panel of 340 manufacturing firms, the study also analyses the effects of imported capital goods on firm productivity growth and skills development. The results show that imported machines and equipment have increase manufacturing productivity after 1‐2 years following the investment. Additionally, foreign‐owned firms were found to enjoy more productivity growth than their domestic counterparts.     

Growth Patterns and Inequality in the Presence of Costly Technology Adoption

The stylized facts that motivate this article include the diversity in growth patterns that are observed across countries during the process of economic development and the divergence over time in income distributions both within and across countries. We construct a dynamic general equilibrium model in which technology adoption is costly and agents are heterogeneous in their initial holdings of resources. We interpret the adoption cost as the resources expended in acquiring skills associated with new technologies. Endogenous growth occurs in our model largely as a result of human capital deepening. The analytical results of the model characterize three growth outcomes associated with the technology adoption process depending on productivity differences between the technologies. These outcomes are labeled ‘poverty trap,’ ‘dual economy,’ and ‘balanced growth.’ The model is then capable of explaining the observed diversity in growth patterns in addition to the divergence of incomes over time and across countries.     

MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND INEQUALITY: BRAZIL, 1983–94

We examine how poor macroeconomic performance, mainly in terms of high rates of inflation, affected earnings inequality in the 1980s and early 1990s in Brazil. The results, based initially on aggregate time series, and then on sub‐national panel time‐series data and analysis, show that the extreme inflation, combined with an imperfect process of financial adaptation and incomplete indexation coverage, had a regressive and significant impact on inequality. The implication of the results is that sound macroeconomic policies, which keep inflation low and stable in the long run, should be a necessary first step of any policy package implemented to alleviate inequality in Brazil.