Health investment,physical capital accumulation,and economic growth

This paper analyzes the effect of health investment, and hence of health capital, on physical capital accumulation and long-run economic growth in an extended Ramsey model with an Arrow–Romer production function and a Grossman (1972) utility function. The paper concludes that economic growth is related to both the health growth rate and the health level. While growth in health capital always facilitates economic growth, the gross effect of health level on the rate of economic growth depends on how it affects physical capital accumulation. If the negative effect of health on economic growth through its influence on physical capital accumulation is not taken into consideration, then health level has a positive effect on the rate of economic growth by improving the efficiency of labor production. However, since health investment may crowd out physical capital investment and thus influence physical capital accumulation, excessive investment in health may have a negative effect on economic growth. Empirical tests of these theoretical hypotheses using panel data from individual provinces of China produce results that are consistent with our theoretical conclusions.     

Rapid growth and changing economic structure: The expenditure side story and its implications for China

The purpose of this essay has not been to provide China with a detailed list of all of the things that the country must do to maintain a high growth rate. The purpose of this essay instead has been to analyze some of the most basic choices that China must make going forward, choices that are not yet fully understood either by government or private analysts. China has a very unusual economic structure at least on the aggregate demand side and that creates special challenges that other countries have not had to face to the same degree. How well China handles these challenges will determine whether it will continue to progress rapidly to middle income status and beyond.     

Health insurance reform and economic growth: Simulation analysis in Japan

This paper evaluates the drastic reforms of Japanese public health insurance initiated in 2006. We employ a computable general equilibrium framework to numerically examine the reforms for an aging Japan in the dynamic context of overlapping generations. Our simulation produced the following results: first, an increase in the co-payment rate, a prominent feature of the 2006 reform, would promote economic growth and welfare by encouraging private saving. Second, the ex-post moral hazard behavior following the increase in co-payment rates, however, reduces economic growth. Third, Japan's trend of increasing the future public health insurance benefits can mainly be explained by its aging population, and increasing the co-payment rate does little to reduce future payments of public health insurance benefits. Fourth, the effect on future economic burdens of reducing medical costs through efficiencies in public health insurance, emphasis on preventive medical care, or technological progress in the medical field is small. Finally, a policy of maintaining public health insurance at a fixed percentage of GDP will require reducing public health insurance benefits, perhaps up to 45% by 2050. Such a policy also reduces economic growth until approximately 2035. Our simulation indicates that the reform does not significantly reduce future public health insurance benefits, but it can enhance economic growth and welfare by encouraging private saving.     

Resource abundance and economic growth in China

This paper revisits the resource curse phenomenon in China and differs from the previous studies in four respects: (i) City-level data is used; (ii) A spatial variable is constructed to estimate the diffusion effect of natural resources among cities in the same province; (iii) The impact of resource abundance on economic development is investigated not only at the city level but also at the prefectural level in China; (iv) We use a functional coefficient regression model to deal with city-specific heterogeneity and, at the same time, analyze the transmission mechanism of the resource curse phenomenon. Our empirical results show that there is no significant evidence to support the existence of a resource curse phenomenon in China. On the other hand, we find that the degree of natural resource abundance in a city has a positive diffusion effect on the economic growth of neighboring cities within the same province at the city level, but not at prefectural levels. We attribute this to the urban bias policy.     

Financial development and economic growth: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the relationship between financial development and economic growth for the case of China over the period 1952–2001. After considering the time series characteristics of the dataset, a multivariate vector autoregressive (VAR) framework is used as an appropriate specification and the long-run relationship among financial development, growth and other key growth factors is analyzed in a theoretically based high dimensional system by identification of co-integrating vectors through tests of over-identifying restrictions. The empirical results suggest that there exists a unidirectional causality from economic growth to financial development, conclusions departing distinctively from those in the previous studies.     

Targeted poverty investments and economic growth in China

In the mid-1980s, the Chinese government launched its ambitious poor area development policy, which was centered around a series of grant, credit, and Food-for-Work programs. Ironically, for the remainder of the 1980s rural poverty remained at about 90 to 100 million, or approximately 10% of the rural population. The lack of progress cannot necessarily be blamed on ineffective poor area policies, since much of the agricultural economy was mired in a deep recession between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s substantial additional poverty reduction had been achieved. Even in the late-1980s, farmers in many poor counties did better than the national average in terms of income growth. After accounting for the effects of macroeconomic elements, what factors can help explain the differences in performance among poor regions and between poor areas and rich ones? Can part of these differences be accounted for by poor area policies, in general, or by the way local and regional officials allocate their poor area investment funds, in particular?The overall objective of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of Chinese poor area policy. Specifically, the paper seeks to meet three objectives. First, we want to understand the evolution of poor area policy since the mid-1980s, trying to deduce the true goals of central and regional poor area officials, as well as how these policies have been implemented in the provinces. Next, we want to understand the magnitude and scope of investment into poor areas, and examine if changes in these policies have affected the uses of the investment funds. Finally, we want to determine the effectiveness of the investment of poor area funds, analyzing which types of investments have generated growth, and which ones have not.     

Spatial spillover and regional economic growth in China

This paper investigates the spatial structure of the provincial economic growth and the spatial spillover in China from 1998 to 2008. First, we apply Moran's index to detect the positive spatial autocorrelations across the provinces of China. Second, we build a new economic geography model and the role of market potential in promoting regional income growth is highlighted. Third, two measures of market potential are constructed and a spatial error model is adopted to obtain the estimations, considering spatial autocorrelation. Controlling for major inputs, such as labor, capital, and human capital, the market potential continues to promote substantial regional growth. On average, an increase of 10 percentage points in the market potential increases the regional GDP per capita growth by 3–5 percentage points.     

Forces of economic growth in China,India, and other Asian countries

This paper applies different approaches to modelling sources of economic growth from time series and panel data sets for 10 Asian countries over the period 1970–2010. After being subjected to fragility tests, the cross‐country estimates indicate that investment, together with policy variables and openness to trade, explains about 90 per cent of the estimated 3.2 per cent steady‐state growth rate for the region. Regional growth policy points to expanding trade, supporting financial development, and maintaining sound investment environments. Although country‐specific growth effects vary, the results imply that different estimation methods, combined with fragility tests, can help establish stronger links between growth theory and policy advice.     

Fiscal policy and economic growth: some evidence from China

Review of World Economics - China has experienced profound economic and social changes in recent decades. During this period, China’s fiscal policy framework has been substantially reformed....     

Spatial externalities in China regional economic growth

Using spatial econometric techniques, this paper presents an empirical analysis of the growth performances of Chinese prefectures over 1991 to 2007 period. Based on the Solow growth theory with technology spillovers, a Spatial Durbin growth model recently developed is employed to capture the spatial externalities. We find strong evidence of positive spatial dependence between Chinese prefectures after 1991. Apart from the usual divergence conclusions, we find evidence for significant conditional convergence force when the spatial spillover effects are controlled. Our results also indicate the competition effect of capital accumulation and urbanization growth among neighboring regions. Moreover, spatial convergence clubs are detected and the spatial interactions and growth behavior varies.     

Special economic zones and growth in China and India: an empirical investigation

This paper investigates the role of special economic zones (SEZs) in liberalizing the Chinese and Indian economies and their impact on economic growth. The policy change to a more liberalized economy is identified using SEZ variables as instrumental variables. The results indicate that export and FDI growth have positive and statistically significant effects on economic growth in these countries. The presence of SEZs increases regional growth but increasing the number of SEZs has negligible effect on growth. The key to faster economic growth appears to be a greater pace of liberalization.     

关于新中国经济增长与发展阶段(1949-2004)的探索

当前 ,我国经济发展正处在一个非常重要的时期。 2 0 0 3年GDP增长 9 1 % ,GDP总量达到1 1 6万多亿元 ,人均GDP突破 1 0 0 0美元。国际经验反映 :进入人均 1 0 0 0美元的经济发展阶段 ,是一个国家加快经济发展非常重要的战略起点 ,也是矛盾凸现的时期。① 在工业化、城市化加快过程中 ,资源约束的矛盾正在突出 ;随着社会经济结构调整加快 ,各种利益摩擦也在加剧 ;就业、“三农”、金融问题累积 ,等等。这表明我国步入一个新的增长阶段 ,面临重大战略调整。在这样的时刻 ,回顾中国经济历史上的增长与发展 ,有助于全面客观地认识现存的矛…     

Political economy of class struggle and economic growth in China, 1950–1982

The Chinese economic cycle is both a cycle of accumulation and construction activity and a political cycle exercising its influence by trial-and-error methods and changes from voluntarist to pragmatic planning approaches. As a result of some excessive accumulation in the form of net investment in non-productive sectors, there was a lag in infrastructures like energy and transport and trade-off against consumption more severe than expected. Structural imbalances in the economy would have had to have been tackled after 1976, even if the voluntarists had been in office. The eclipse of central planning supporters was of 1979–1980 duration only. Thereafter the line on ‘planning and the market’ became less enthusiastic as the concept of ‘market socialism’ faded. ‘Stabilization’ of the relative growth rates of heavy industry and light industry was compatible with both the programme of the Chen Yun reformers and those reluctant to give ground from ‘realistic plans’ to the ‘law of value’. In agriculture, the masses of small peasant proprietors rather than Party factions decided the shift to the new system of material incentives based on households. In this, weaknesses of Maoist practice in solving rural poverty played a role. Nevertheless, the left can defend collectivist ownership to some extent by adopting a more reasonable programme than in 1966–1976.     

Correction to: Fiscal policy and economic growth: some evidence from China

Review of World Economics - In the original publication of the article, the email addresses and affiliations of the second, third and fourth authors, Mengxi Wang, Donghyun Park and Cynthia...     

Education, training, and economic growth

Ashton, D. and Green, F. 1996: EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, £18.95 paper, £55.00 cased.

Booth, A. and Snower, J. (eds) 1996: ACQUIRING SKILLS: MARKET FAILURES, THEIR SYMPTOMS AND POLICY RESPONSES. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, £15.95 paper, £45.00 cased.

Deakin, B. 1996: THE YOUTH LABOUR MARKET IN BRITAIN: THE ROLE OF INTERVENTION. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, £35.00 cased.

Godfrey, M. (ed) 1997: SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, £59.95 cased.

Shackleton, J. with Clarke, L, Lange, T. and Walsh, S. 1995: TRAINING FOR EMPLOYMENT IN WESTERN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, £55.00 cased.     

台商直接投资对福建经济增长影响的实证分析

根据1989-2007年福建省统计数据,运用协整检验、Breusch-Godfrey检验和Granger因果检验,对台商直接投资(TDI)与福建经济增长关系进行实证分析,并就扩大利用台资,提高利用质量提出了政策建议。     

Prices,incentives, and economic growth

Zusammenfassung Preise, Anreize und wirtschaftliches Wachstum. - In dem Artikel wird untersucht, wie sich politikbedingte Verzerrungen auf die Effizienz der Ressourcenallokation und das wirtschaftliche Wachstum in entwickelten, unterentwickelten und sozialistischen L?ndern auswirken. Eingriffe in die Güterm?rkte k?nnen in Form der Importprotektion, Preiskontrollen und Wettbewerbsbeschr?nkungen erfolgen. Auf den Arbeitsm?rkten verzerren die Arbeitslosenunterstützung, die Kündigungsschutzabkommen, die Sozialversicherungsleistungen und die Lohnsteuer das Arbeitsangebot, w?hrend Mindestlohngesetze und Sozialversicherungsbeitr?ge auf die Nachfrage nach Arbeit einwirken. SchlieΒlich sind Zinssatzverordnungen, K?rperschaftssteuern und Einfuhrbeschr?nkungen die haupts?chlichen Eingriffe in die Kapitalm?rkte. Nach der Betrachtung der wirtschaftlichen Wirkungen dieser Interventionen werden Vorschl?ge gemacht, wie die Verzerrungen beseitigt oder gemildert werden k?nnen.

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Résumé Prix, incitations et croissance économique. - Cet article examine les effets des distorsions imposées par la politique sur 1’ efficacité de l’allocation des ressources et sur la croissance économique dans les pays développés, développants et socialistes. Les interventions sur les marchés de biens peuvent consister de la protection d’importation, des contróles des prix et des freins á la concurrence. Parmi les distorsions sur les marchés du travail, l’allocation de chómage, la protection contre le licenciement, les prestations de sécurité sociale et les impóts sur les salaires affectent l’offre du travail pendant que le salaire minimum et des cotisations d’assurance sociale chargent la demande du travail. Finalement, les régulations des taux d’intérét, les impóts sur les sociétés, et la protection d’importation sont les interventions principales sur les marchés des capitaux. Après une revue des effets économiques de ces interventions, l’auteur donne des recommandations á éliminer ou relacher les distorsions.

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Resumen Precios, incentivos y crecimiento economico. - Este trabajo trata los efectos que tienen las distorsiones creadas por la politica económica sobre la eficiencia de la asignación de recursos y el crecimiento economico en los pafses desarrollados, en vias de desarrallo y socialistas. Las intervenciones en los mercados de bienes pueden manifestarse como restricciones a las importaciones, controles de precios y limites a la competencia. Entre las distorsiones de los mercados laborales, la compensación por desempleo, la reglamentación sobre la seguridad de las plazas de trabajo, los beneficios de la prevision social y los impuestos a los salarios afectan la oferta de trabajo, mientras que la reglamentación del salario mfnimo y los descuentos para la previsión social inciden en la demanda de trabajo. Finalmente, la regulaci?n de la tasa de interés, los impuestos a las empresas y la restriction a las importaciones constituyen las principales formas de interventión en los mercados de capital. Después de pasar revista a las consecuencias económicas de dichas intervenciones, este trabajo présenta recomendaciones para corregir o aliviar las distorsiones résultantes.