Keynes and Wagner on government expenditures and economic development: the case of a developing economy

This paper investigates the Keynesian view and the Wagner’s Law on the role of public expenditure on economic growth for Malaysia (1970–2004). The empirical results using the Auto-Regression Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the ‘bounds test’ (Pesaran et al. in J Appl Econ 16:289–326, 2001) showed evidence of a long run relationship between total expenditures (including expenditures on defense, education, development and agriculture) and Gross National Product. The results also show that with the structural break in 1998, the long run causality is bi-directional for GNP and expenditures on administration and health, supporting both Keynes view and Wagner’s Law. For all other expenditure categories the long run causality runs from GNP to the expenditures, which supports Wagner’s Law. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Tourism–growth nexus in Pakistan: Evidence from ARDL bounds tests

This study is an attempt to test the long run relationship between international tourism and economic growth of Pakistan by using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models over the period of 1972 to 2011. The initial results show that the causality runs from tourism to economic growth. Furthermore, the estimated growth regression clearly indicates that the international tourism has a significantly positive impact on the economic growth of Pakistan along with other variables like physical capital and international trade. This implies that the improvement in the tourism sector may enhance the economic growth activities in Pakistan.     

长期增长过程的“结构性加速”与“结构性减速”:一种解释

立足于Mitchell和Maddison的历史统计数据库,本文对发达国家增长因素进行了分析,阐释了以下事实,即1970年代以后发达国家经济增长的减速,与生产率增长的减速密切相关,而生产率的减速是由于产业结构服务化这种系统性因素造成的。为此,本文提出了长期增长过程中"结构性加速"与"结构性减速"的观点。这种观点一方面系统化和清晰化了人们关于长期增长趋势的认识,另一方面在"结构性加速"向"结构性减速"过渡期间的经济问题也更容易得到解释和预测。未来几十年,中国经济结构的服务化趋势逐渐增强,"结构性加速"向"结构性减速"转换及相应问题将会凸显。相对于其他理论而言,这种观点对于中国的工业化和城市化问题可能具有更强、更直观的解释能力。     

The savings-growth nexus for the Malaysian economy: a view through rolling sub-samples

The purpose of this study is to re-investigate the savings-growth nexus for the Malaysian economy using bounds testing approach to cointegration and Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lütkepohl (1996) – TYDL Granger causality test. This study covered the sample period from 1971:Q1 to 2008:Q4. The cointegration results suggest that the variables are moving together in the long run and the TYDL Granger causality results indicate that the relationship between savings and economic growth is bilateral. In addition, the rolling sub-samples TYDL Granger causality test exhibited a relatively stable causal relationship running from savings to economic growth in Malaysia particularly before the onset of Asian Financial Crisis in 1997/1998.     

The role of domestic demand in the economic growth of Malaysia: a cointegration analysis

For the past four decades (1961-2000), the Malaysian economy grew at an impressive average rate of 6.8% per annum. The rapid growth has been attributed, in part, to the tremendous success in the export-oriented industrialization policy. Several empirical studies on export-led growth for Malaysia have, however, led to inconclusive and mixed results. This may be due to the exclusion of domestic demand in the bivariate or multivariate models used in the studies. This study re-examines the role of domestic demand in economic growth in Malaysia. Using a three-variable cointegration analysis, the study shows that there exist short run bilateral causalities among the three variables, which implies that both the export-led growth and domestic demand-generated growth hypotheses are at least valid in the short run. On the other hand, the results are not supportive of the export-led growth hypothesis in the long run. Instead, the highly significant positive impact of domestic expenditure on economic growth implies that use of domestic demand as the catalyst for growth is appropriate.     

A revalidation of the savings–growth nexus in Pakistan

The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between savings and economic growth in Pakistan over the period 1971–2011. The cointegration and the Granger causality tests are adopted to examine the relationship between the variables. The results confirm the existence of long-run equilibrium among the variables of interest. Meanwhile, savings have positively affected economic growth in both the short run and long run. The Granger results also show that savings Granger-cause economic growth. Based upon these findings, we confirm that savings is a catalyst of growth for the Pakistani economy. Additionally, our results seem more likely to support the capital fundamentalists because the long run estimation as well as the Granger causality results also indicates that savings growth can effectively spur economic growth in Pakistan.     

我国的政府教育支出与经济增长——基于1980—2011年的数据分析

对于政府教育支出与经济增长的关系实证研究并没有确定的结论。本文利用我国1980-2011年的时间序列数据分析了政府教育支出对经济增长的影响。实证研究表明,无论是在长期还是短期内政府教育支出都对经济增长具有正的显著的影响,即我国的政府教育支出能够促进经济增长。 Granger因果检验表明,我国的政府教育支出与经济增长之间存在双向因果关系。另外,长期中政府教育支出对经济增长的影响效果大于短期。这说明政府教育支出对经济增长的影响是个长期的累积过程,因而教育投入不应该是一种短期行为。目前我国政府的教育支出仍处于相对较低的水平,具有较大的提升空间,从而具有推动经济增长的巨大潜力。因此,为保持经济的持续增长,在近期和长期内不断加大政府对教育的投入、优化教育资源的配置应是一项极其重要的教育政策。     

Estimates of the steady state growth rates for selected Asian countries with an extended Solow model

This paper develops an extended version of the Solow (1956) growth model in which total factor productivity is assumed a function of two important externalities viz., learning by doing and openness to trade. Using this framework we show that these externalities have played an important role to improve the long run growth rates of six Asian countries viz., Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines. A few broad policies to improve the long run growth rates of these countries are suggested.     

The Division of Labor, Capital, Communication Technology and Economic Growth: The Case of China 1952–99

The implications of the division of labor, capital, and technology for economic growth have long been a fundamental issue in development economics. This paper employs the bounds testing approach to cointegration to examine the relationship between the division of labor, capital accumulation, communication technology, and economic growth for China over the period 1952–99. We find that in the long run, capital stock and the division of labor both have statistically significant positive effects on growth, while in the short run the effects are not significantly positive. Telecommunication technology, rather surprisingly, has a statistically insignificant impact on growth both in the long run and in the short run. Our findings indicate that there exists a long run equilibrium relationship between capital and the division of labor on the one hand, and economic growth on the other, thereby lending support to the division of labor theory of growth.     

Is there an export or import-led productivity growth in rapidly developing Asian countries? a multivariate VAR analysis

In contrast to cross-country studies, the paper investigates the relationships between trade and labour productivity for nine rapidly developing Asian countries in a time-series framework using a vector error-correction model. Independent tests on the long-run and short-run relationship between trade variables of exports and imports and productivity are conducted. The results suggest that trade has an important impact on productivity and output growth in the economy, however it is imports that provide the important?‘virtuous’?link between trade and output growth. The results indicate that exports and imports have qualitatively different impacts on labour productivity. The long-run result shows that there is no causal effect from exports to labour productivity growth for Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand; thereby suggesting that there is no export-led productivity growth in these countries. However, significant causal effects were found from imports to productivity growth, suggesting import-led productivity growth in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. In addition, the results indicate that imports tend to have greater positive impact on productivity growth in the long run.     

Industrial Policy and Islamic Finance

Debates on industrial policy have typically focused on interventions in the ‘real’ sector to facilitate the transformation of a resources-based economy to one that is based on manufacturing. Although the financial sector has always figured strongly in these discussions, its development, or rather repression, is almost always considered in the context of serving the ‘real’ sector. In contrast, this paper contributes to the emerging literature on government policies to develop financial sectors into independent and internationally competitive sources of economic growth on their own right through an analysis of the development of Islamic finance in Malaysia. The paper argues that the emergence of Islamic finance in Malaysia, and the country's evolution into a key player of the sector in the global market, can be attributed to developmental efforts or industrial policies adopted by the government. The case of Islamic finance in Malaysia suggests the continuing relevance of industrial policy for developmental purposes. More importantly, it demonstrates that developing countries can chart a path towards services-led growth, the next frontier in economic development.     

Energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions: Challenges faced by an EU candidate member

This paper investigates the long run Granger causality relationship between economic growth, carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption in Turkey, controlling for gross fixed capital formation and labor. The most interesting result is that carbon emissions seem to Granger cause energy consumption, but the reverse is not true. The lack of a long run causal link between income and emissions may be implying that to reduce carbon emissions, Turkey does not have to forgo economic growth.     

Market Integration and Economic Development: A Long-run Comparison

How much of China’s recent economic performance can be attributed to market‐oriented reforms introduced in the last two decades? A long‐run perspective may be important for understanding the process of economic development occurring today. This paper compares the integration of rice markets in China today and 270 years ago. In the eighteenth century, transport technology was non‐mechanized, but markets were close to being free. We distinguish local harvest and weather from aggregate sources of price variation in a historical sample and in a similarly constructed contemporary sample. Findings indicate the degree of market integration in the 1720s is a very good predictor of per capita income in the 1990s. Moreover, the current pattern of interregional income in China is strongly linked to persistent geographic factors that were already apparent several centuries ago, well before the enactment of modern reform programs.     

需求要素对中国经济增长影响的实证研究——基于边限检验理论的视角

在建立无约束误差修正模型的基础上，运用边限检验方法对需求要素对中国经济增长影响的实证研究表明，中国经济增长与需求因素之间存在长期稳定关系，需求的不同组成部分对中国经济增长有不同的影响。在长期，只有资本形成总额的影响显著，在短期内，需求各要素对中国经济增长都有显著的影响。     

Trade liberalization and economic growth: a case study of Iran

We estimate the impact of trade liberalization and physical and human capital accumulation on Iran’s economic growth during the period 1959?2007. Using co-integration techniques and a vector error correction model, we find a unique long-run relationship between economic growth and its major determinants. These determinants include the physical and human capital stock, the labor force, real non-oil exports, and import tariffs. In addition, the short-term error correction dynamics analysis suggests that trade liberalization has a significant long run positive role in dynamic of growth. Our results support the view that the integration of the Iranian economy with the world economy is undoubtedly welfare improving.     

Culture and human capital in a two-sector endogenous growth model

Recent literature in the field of cultural economics highlights a possible inversion in the usual causality relation (from economic growth to culture) and points out that culture may represent an important driver of economic growth. By viewing culture in line with Throsby’s (2001) definition of cultural capital (i.e., an asset of tangible and intangible cultural expressions), in this article we analyze one possible channel through which culture may positively affect economic growth, namely the existence of a relationship of complementarity between cultural and human capital investments. Using a two-sector endogenous growth model, we find that in the long run a higher growth rate of real per-capita income can be attained the more cultural and human capital investments are complementary for each other in the process leading to agents’ skill acquisition. We also analyze the conditions under which an increase of the cultural capital share in total GDP can be conducive to a rise of real per-capita income.     

Antidumping decisions and macroeconomic variables in the USA

This paper investigates the macroeconomic factors that explain antidumping decisions in the US International Trade Commission. Johansen's cointegration test results show that there is a long run equilibrium relationship between growth of the percentage of affirmative antidumping decisions and trade balance. The error correction model shows that there is a causality running from the latter to the former. Growth of the percentage of affirmative antidumping decisions is revealed to cause slowdown in economic growth. Partisan characteristics are observed in the Commissioners' antidumping decisions.     

旅游发展与经济增长空间自相关分析——基于武陵山区的经验数据

利用2006—2010年反映武陵山区旅游发展与经济增长的旅游收入和GDP指标的数据进行局部空间自相关分析。结果表明:该区域局部Moran指数都为正且反映旅游发展、经济增长、旅游发展与经济增长所有的点都分布在Moran散点图第一象限内,说明该区域各地区旅游发展、经济增长、旅游发展与经济增长存在着空间自相关。同时,武陵山区局部Moran指数变化趋势分析则表明该区域旅游发展、经济增长、旅游发展与经济增长存在空间动态变化趋势。研究结论为武陵山片区区域发展提供了新的研究思路和理论支持。     

Demand-led Growth Theory: A Historical Approach

This paper builds upon the Keynesian theory of demand-led growth in order to provide an analytical framework for explaining economic growth and development in concrete terms, consistent with the fundamental idea that growth in output and employment is determined by the growth in aggregate demand. The framework employs a historical approach to identify the main factors and their role in explaining demand-led growth and the accumulation process. The theoretical model developed abandons steady-state conditions by proposing that capacity utilisation varies in the long run as well as in the short run to ensure output has the elasticity to accommodate levels of autonomous demand free of any capacity saving constraint. On the basis of our analytical framework, the paper considers the main factors that explain the growth in aggregate demand: first, by examining the variables that determine the ‘super-multiplier’ and what social, institutional and technical conditions can cause its value to change over time; second, by identifying the components of autonomous demand and the main forces explaining their growth; and third, by considering the manner in which technical progress promotes demand-led growth.     

The relationship between remittances and macroeconomic variables in times of political and social upheaval: Evidence from Tunisia's Arab Spring

If Tunisia is hailed as a success story with its high rankings on economic, educational, and other indicators relative to other Arab countries, the popular 2011 uprisings underscored the fragility of its main economic pillars, including those of tourism and foreign direct investment. This paper examines the economic impact of migrants’ remittances, which are expected to exhibit relatively countercyclical behaviour during periods of intense upheaval. This study is novel in its methodological approach, which is used to pinpoint the dynamic effects of remittances on key macroeconomic variables within an unstable framework. The analysis reveals that the effect of remittances on Tunisia's economy has varied over time. Prior to the Arab Spring, remittances had a short‐term negative influence on economic growth, varying effects on domestic investment and positive impacts on consumption. In considering the post‐Arab uprisings, positive and strong impacts of remittances on growth and consumption are found in the long run while negative and moderate investment effects of remittances are shown over the short and medium term.