International trade,economic growth and intellectual property rights: A panel data study of developed and developing countries

This paper examines the role of high-technology trade, IPRs and FDI in determining a country's rate of innovation and economic growth. The empirical analysis is conducted using a unique panel data set of 47 developed and developing countries from 1970 to 1990. The results suggest that: (1) high-technology imports are relevant in explaining domestic innovation both in developed and developing countries; (2) foreign technology has a stronger impact on per capita GDP growth than domestic technology; (3) IPRs affect the innovation rate, but this impact is more significant for developed countries; (4) the results regarding FDI are inconclusive.     

International trade,economic growth and intellectual property rights: A panel data study of developed and developing countries

This paper examines the role of high-technology trade, IPRs and FDI in determining a country's rate of innovation and economic growth. The empirical analysis is conducted using a unique panel data set of 47 developed and developing countries from 1970 to 1990. The results suggest that: (1) high-technology imports are relevant in explaining domestic innovation both in developed and developing countries; (2) foreign technology has a stronger impact on per capita GDP growth than domestic technology; (3) IPRs affect the innovation rate, but this impact is more significant for developed countries; (4) the results regarding FDI are inconclusive.     

Factors of production,productivity, institutions,and development: Evidence from Brazil

The economic growth and development literature emphasizes that investment in technology and physical and human capital is essential for achieving higher levels of development. Political and economic institutions are also relevant in this process. With a sample of 5,503 Brazilian municipalities, this study carries out a development accounting exercise and measures the effects of institutional quality on per capita gross domestic product (GDP), physical capital intensity, human capital stock, and productivity. The empirical results indicate that institutional quality affects GDP per capita mainly through human capital accumulation and total factor productivity.     

Social capital, innovation and growth: Evidence from Europe

This paper investigates the interplay between social capital, innovation and per capita income growth in the European Union. We model and identify innovation as an important mechanism that transforms social capital into higher income levels. In an empirical investigation of 102 European regions in the period 1990-2002, we show that higher innovation performance is conducive to per capita income growth and that social capital affects this growth indirectly by fostering innovation. Our estimates suggest that there is no direct role for social capital to foster per capita income growth in our sample of European Union countries.     

An empirical analysis of the relationship between economic development and population growth in China

China has experienced a dramatic demographic transition since the latter half of the twentieth century, and thus, assessing the global economic implications is an important issue. This article uses time-series data on China to estimate the determinants of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. According to the results of the presented co-integration analysis, population has a significantly negative impact on GDP per capita, while savings rate, total factor productivity and degree of industrialization have significantly positive impacts on GDP per capita. These results suggest that the share of the working-age population relative to the total population does not have a strong influence on GDP per capita. Therefore, the contribution of the working-age population to economic growth might not be as large as previously assumed. It is also possible that an increase in savings, remarkable industrialization and rapid technological progress have all stimulated economic growth in China greatly.     

Constitutional design and economic performance

This paper is motivated by the belief that some cultural traits favor economic performance more than others. One trait examined is the ease with which individuals in a community drift away from the spirit of the law for their own benefit; this, it is argued, generates verbose legislation and high-transaction-cost institutions with deleterious effects on economic performance. An empirical comparison between the number of articles in a country's constitution, as a proxy for length and lack of simplicity, and economic performance as measured by GDP per capita finds that no country with a high GDP per capita has a long constitution or, restated, that long constitutions are invariably associated with low levels of GDP per capita.     

Social Exclusion and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation in European Economies

The aims of this article are to propose an overall index of social exclusion and to analyze its relationship with economic growth in European countries. We approach social exclusion as a multidimensional phenomenon by a three‐mode principal components analysis (Tucker3 model). This method is applied to estimate an indicator of social exclusion for 28 European countries between 1995 and 2010. The empirical evidence shows that in the short run: (1) Granger causality runs one way from social exclusion to economic growth and not the other way; (2) countries with a higher level of social exclusion have higher growth rates of real GDP per capita; and (3) social exclusion has a larger effect than income inequality on economic growth. The policy implication of our analysis is that social inclusion is not a source of economic growth in the short term.     

Explaining Differences in Economic Growth among OECD Countries

This paper re-examines the determinants of growth of GDP per capita using panel data for OECD countries for the period 1970–1999 with data averaged over five-year periods from new perspectives. First, we introduce indicators of innovation input and technological specialization simultaneously into the empirical growth equation. Second, we employ the system-GMM (Generalized-Method-of-Moments) panel estimator that controls for (a) the possible specification bias when variables are highly persistent over time and (b) the possible simultaneity bias. We find a large and statistically significant impact of business enterprise R&D (BERD) intensity on GDP per capita with an elasticity of 0.22. The share of high-technology exports is also significantly positively related to GDP per capita, but the magnitude suggests that BERD is more important than technological specialization in explaining the level of GDP per capita. Furthermore, we find that the budget deficit and government consumption (both measured as percentages of GDP) and the volatility of growth are significantly negatively related to GDP per capita.The authors would like to thank Gunther Tichy for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. We also thank the participants of the Austrian economic association conference (NOEG) and the Empirical Industrial Organization workshop at the WU WIEN for helpful comments. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the OeNB Jubiläumsfonds Project and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy and Labor (BMWA).JEL codes: E62, H20, H50, O23, O40     

中国未来不同生育水平下的经济增长后果比较研究

对中国未来90年不同生育水平下的经济增长后果进行了人口-经济动态模拟。在生育水平过低导致劳动力减少过快、人口老龄化过重、劳动负担加重的情况下,将使经济增长大大放缓;而较高的生育水平下,虽然经济增长速度略快,但是人均GDP增长速度慢于中方案生育水平下的经济增长,并且人均GDP水平也具有较大差异。完善当前生育政策,使生育水平稳定在1.9-2.0之间,如此人口在本世纪缓慢地减少也将有利于我国的经济增长和人均生活水平的提高。同时,在低生育水平下,依靠劳动增加和资本积累的粗放型经济增长将不复存在,经济发展方式转变是必然选择,技术创新、技术进步将是未来经济增长首要源泉。     

中国人均能源碳排放因素分解及减排途径分析

以1981-2008年中国一次能源消费总量、人口数和GDP数据为基础,通过实证分析经济发展、能源强度和能源结构对这一时期人均碳排放的贡献发现:经济发展拉动了人均能源碳排放的增长,能源强度的降低抑制了人均能源碳排放的增长,能源结构的变化在研究期内先对人均能源碳排放起促进作用,然后起抑制作用,其拐点出现在1997年,但研究期内贡献不显著.近年来,能源结构的贡献却有逐步增强的趋势.     

中国区域经济分化与空间动能解析

1949—2019年，中国各省份经济总量不平等程度先下降后上升，在近十年的短周期内也呈现先下降后上升的态势；而人均实际GDP不平等程度则处于水平波动的状态，近年来呈现σ趋同态势，并在2019年出现β趋同的新迹象。创新能力较弱、政府债务率偏高和劳动人口占比偏低是当前落后地区增长动能匮乏的重要原因。研发支出、资本存量和就业规模是区域经济差距形成的主要原因，可以解释1999—2019年省级层面GDP差异的889%和人均GDP差异的591%，其中研发支出与就业规模是地区GDP总量分化的主因，研发支出与资本存量是地区人均GDP分化的主因。空间计量分析发现，中国区域经济增长的空间溢出效应显著存在，但研发支出、资本存量和就业规模的空间溢出效应存在明显区别，仅周边研发支出对地区经济增长存在正向空间溢出效应，并且东中西三大经济带的空间溢出效应存在一定差异。     

“The winner takes it all” or a story of the optimal allocation of the European Cohesion Fund

This paper aims to determine an optimal allocation of the European Cohesion Fund (ECF) and compares it with the observed allocation. This optimal allocation is the solution of a donor optimization problem which maximizes recipient countries' GDP per capita to achieve economic convergence in the European Union. Compared to the observed allocation, our solution can identify the recipient countries that can benefit from higher ECF transfers than the observed levels, as those having low relative GDP per capita, large population size and where the ECF has a strong capacity to support economic growth. Result is robust to changes in the specification of the donor's utility function.     

Inter-Region Transportation Costs,Regional Economic Growth,and Disparities in China

To examine the correlation between regional economic growth and inter-region transportation costs in China, this study establishes a regional economic growth model embedded with inter-region transportation costs based on the Cobb-Douglas production function. Based on a balanced growth empirical model, this study verifies the correlation by conducting a regression analysis of the panel data of 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions from 1985 to 2015. The empirical results show that: (1) The per capita GDP growth among the three regions (namely, the eastern, central, and western regions of China) meets a conditional convergence trend, and the decreasing of the inter-region transportation costs increases the convergence speed; (2) The per capita GDP growth is in line with the club convergence trend within each of the three regions; (3) The trend of the output elasticity of the inter-region transportation costs shows that the gradual decrease of inter-region transportation costs has a positive correlation with the narrowing of economic disparity after the year 2000, accelerating "common prosperity" across different regions in China.     

Do microfinance institutions fulfil their promise? Evidence from cross-country data

The concept of microfinance promises poverty reduction and economic growth. We empirically challenge this economic and social promise in an attempt to prove its fulfilment. Our multivariate regressions of economic development variables such as per capita gross national income based on PPP converted to international dollars (GNI per capita PPP), GDP growth, as well as gross capital formation and labour participation rate against specific microfinance institutions’ (MFI) variables show that the success and performance of MFIs significantly influence economic development. Microfinance directly influences economic growth through the value that MFI performance adds to purchasing power. An indirect impact comes from an improvement in capital accumulation and employment rates. These insights are valuable as the interdependencies between microfinance and economic development that this article verifies offer new and progressive insights into purposeful action that can be taken to stimulate economic development and growth. Targeted development programmes as well as socially responsible investments can be applied in developing economies in order to strengthen their growth and alleviate poverty.     

中国城市经济发展差异性与阶段研究

用城市人均GDP标准差、城市人均GDP变异系数、城市人均GDP的基尼系数和泰尔指数来研究我国23座典型城市经济发展的绝对差异、相对差异和总体差异;用人均GDP与GDP增长率指标的点矩阵图来研究我国23座典型城市经济发展的变化,并结合钱纳里的人均经济总量与经济发展阶段关系理论对我国23座典型城市的经济发展阶段进行划分,并进行了实证分析。得出如下结论:中国23座典型城市经济发展的差异性逐渐加大;中国城市经济发展的大体趋势为"人均GDP、GDP增长率双低"→"人均GDP低、GDP增长率高"→"人均GDP、GDP增长率双高"→"人均GDP高、GDP增长率低";代表城市北京的经济发展经历了初级产品生产阶段、工业化阶段、发达经济阶段的初级阶段;中国城市经济的发展潜力巨大。     

Population growth and development: the case of Bangladesh

In a poor, overly populated country such as Bangladesh, some believe that a high rate of population growth is a cause of poverty which impedes economic development. Population growth would therefore be exogenous to economic development. However, others believe that rapid population growth is a consequence rather than a cause of poverty. Population growth is therefore endogenous to economic development. Findings are presented from an investigation of whether population growth has been exogenous or endogenous with respect to Bangladesh's development process during the past 3 decades. The increase in per capita real gross domestic product (GDP) is used as a measure of development. Data on population, real GDP per capita, and real investment share of GDP are drawn from the Penn World Table prepared by Summers and Heston in 1991. The data are annual and cover the period 1959-90. Analysis of the data indicate that population growth is endogenous to Bangladesh's development process. These findings are reflected both in the Granger causality tests and the decompositions of variances of detrended real GDP per capita and population growth.     

On the impact of innovation and inequality in economic growth

We present robust results on the empirical relationship among income inequality, innovation, and economic growth for a panel dataset of 74 countries over the period 1996–2014. We estimate pairwise causality tests to show that there is bidirectional causality between GDP per capita and R&D, while R&D causes the Gini index of income inequality, and it causes human capital. Allowing coefficients to be different across cross-sections of countries, we get in any case a pairwise bi-directionality. By dynamic panel data estimations, when regressing R&D on GDP per capita, we obtain a threshold value of 0.16% of R&D such that for values above it there is economic growth. While regressing R&D on the Gini index, we get a threshold of 0.10% of R&D above which, the income distribution begins to improve. Finally, we estimate a growth equation that depends on R&D, income inequality, and physical capital. We obtain two thresholds, one of 38.79 for the Gini (above which the economic growth decreases), and one of 0.06% for R&D such that above it, economic growth is rising.     

What drives inequality and poverty in the EU? Exploring the impact of macroeconomic and institutional factors

Employing panel data techniques, we investigate the macroeconomic and institutional determinants of inequality and poverty in the EU over the period 1994–2008. We pay particular attention to the effects of macroeconomic environment, social protection and labour market institutions. The empirical analysis shows that the social transfers in cash, and principally the transfers that do not include pensions, exert a prominent impact on inequality and poverty. Also significant is the effect of the GDP per capita. The impact of employment on inequality and poverty is not empirically sound. The same holds for the labour market institutions; an exception is the union density, which appears conducive to a less dispersed personal income distribution. Importantly, the results support the view that the social protection system acts as a catalyst in determining the effectiveness of social spending and the distributive role of economic growth and employment.     

技术增长率的部门差异和经济增长率的“驼峰形”变化

迄今的长期经济增长历史表明,经济增长速度具有"驼峰形"特征,即中等收入时增长速度快,人均收入水平高时次之,收入水平低时最慢。经济增长的历史同时表明,增长速度快的时期几乎都伴随着经济结构剧烈变化。本文试图在新古典理论框架内,构建经济增长模型来解释驼峰形特征以及促成它的经济结构变化。数值实验表明,模型结果合理地解释"驼峰形"的经济事实,而且与Kaldor事实和Kuznetz事实同时相容。     

中美两国工业化进程中铜消费指标分析

工业化进程与资源消耗密切相关,GDP或人均GDP可用来衡量一个国家的工业化进程。本文以5年为一个时间段分析了中美两国历史上单位GDP铜消费量(T)的变化,发现中国1960～2005年间单位GDP的铜消费量并未出现明显的上升或下降趋势;美国1929～2005年间单位GDP的铜消费量基本上呈较明显的下降趋势,在20世纪20～40年代T值在高位持续了一定年份,不过自1941年以后T值逐步下降,单位GDP的铜消费量降低了81%。GDP的年增长率(g)和单位GDP铜消费量的年下降率(t)是影响铜消费量变化的两个重要参数,对应不同的单位GDP铜消费量年下降率的假设,文章估算出未来中国经济增长与铜消费指标间的关系以及单位GDP铜消费量降低的百分数,提出了一些实现铜消费减量的措施。最后,给出了中美两国工业化进程中的铜消费量与GDP、人均铜消费量与人均GDP间的关系曲线,总结出铜消费的一些规律。