Toward a Humanist Reconstruction of Economic Science

This paper examines whether governance matters for the economic growth of developing countries, empirically captured within the institutional economics theoretical framework using the panel data estimation procedure. In doing so, it tests the effect of several dimensions of governance on the growth of 84 low and middle-income economies using regression specifications common in the growth literature. The empirical results show that political stability and government effectiveness is significantly positively correlated with growth. Voice and accountability and corruption are statistically significantly negatively correlated with growth. The regulatory quality and rule of law dimensions of governance are negatively but statistically insignificantly correlated with growth. The findings of this study imply that the dynamics of the current modern economy makes it necessary for developing countries to act now and within their own country, improve the dimensions of governance and establish good governance practices that are domestically relevant and internationally comparable and consistent.     

Does Financial Development Promote Innovation in Developing Economies? An Empirical Analysis

Using firm‐level data from 2006 to 2013 for a set of developing countries, we examine the effects of financial development on innovation. Financial development boosts innovation by improving resource allocation and investment in strategic sectors as well as facilitating technology to promote growth. Using binary response models and instrumental variable techniques to correct for endogeneity, we find robust but puzzling results. Contrary to most of the existing literature, financial development has a negative effect on the probability of a firm to innovate in developing countries. This effect is conditional on firm size, and only larger firms benefit from financial development. These results are robust to different measures of financial development and econometric specifications. We argue that this is a result of the design of the financial system in regard to the lack of capital and institutional system. Consequently, developing countries should first generate appropriate institutional conditions if they want financial development to spur growth through innovation.     

发展中国家和地区汇率制度变革及其对中国的启示

本文介绍和分析了一些发展中国家和地区的汇率制度变革的经验和教训以及对中国人民币汇率制度改革可供参考的思路，这些启示将是重要和有价值的。     

International Integration and Growth: A Further Investigation on Developing Countries

The paper examines empirically the linkages between international integration and economic growth in a panel of 47 developing countries and 18 trade blocs over the period 1970–1989. Specifically, it attempts to identify through which channel(s) – notably, specialization according to comparative advantage and increased efficiency, exploitation of increasing returns from larger market, and technology spillovers through investment and trade–trade blocs can affect the economic growth of their member countries. The results suggest that (1) intra-bloc trade does not affect growth significantly; (2) income diversion among member countries contributes positively and significantly to growth; and (3) the size of the trade bloc does matter in the sense that the bigger is not always the better for the welfare of the member countries.     

经济全球化对发展中国家经济发展的影响与对策

随着经济全球化的发展,经济全球化自身存在的诸多不足与局限也日益显现.这些不足和局限对发展中国家的经济发展也带来了多方面的消极影响.对此,发展中国家需要在国内和国际两个层面建立起有效的发展机制,才能实现自己的经济发展目标.     

中国经济在改革发展中呈现效率驱动型特征——二论对“东亚奇迹”和中国经济的理论解释

现有文献表明,大多数学者认为改革以来中国经济快速增长属于要素投入驱动型增长．不可能持续。对此,本文在以前结构转换研究的基础上,指出通常使用的索洛增长因素核算方程中隐含的效率提高类型与实际不符,由此可导致严重低估实际的综合效率提高;而由Klenowand Rodriguez—Clare（1997）发展的核算方法才是封中国经济增长因素进行分解的正确方法。然後对以此方法对中国经济增长因素分解测算的结果进行了详细分析,据此得出了三个基本结论：第一、改革以来中国经济实现了效率提高型快速增长,综合效率提高作出了主要贡献,要素投入也有一定的贡献,但比重较小;第二、改革以来中国经济的增长模式不同于改革前,後者的特征被再次证明主要是依靠要素投入;第三、改革以来中国经济的综合效率提高,主要来源于二元结构转换效应和经济体制转轨效应,教育和科研开发的贡献属于成长中的因素。所以,也不同于发达市场经济的常规增长方式。这些就是中国式综合效率提高驱动型经济增长的特征。     

发展中国家经济安全问题的制度分析

在市场经济全球化迅速发展的背景下,制度因素已成为影响发展中国家经济安全的最大瓶颈.因此,拟从新制度主义的视角,从制度结构和制度供求两个维度对发展中国家经济安全的影响机制进行深入系统的阐释,在此基础之上,提出应对经济安全问题的具体对策和措施.     

Does Improved Environmental Policy Enhance Economic Growth?

The environmental impacts on an economy is studied over time using endogenous growth theory. Externalities from the environment on production are central in the analysis, and we examine whether an optimal path realizes more rapid economic growth. The paper focuses mainly on developing countries, where production is largely influenced by the environmental quality. The result of the analysis indicates that the economic growth rate may not depend on the internalization of the environmental externality, but rather on the internalization of the human capital externality. The level of economic activity, however, generally seems to depend on the internalization of both externalities.     

主要英语国家经济与非英语国家经济的比较分析

20世纪90年代以来,发达国家当中,美国、英国、加拿大和澳大利亚等主要英语国家经济增长普遍快于日本、德国、法国和意大利等主要非英语国家.无论从经济增长速度、人均GDP增长,还是失业率,或者劳动生产率来看,都是主要英语国家好于主要非英语国家.造成这种差距出现的原因是:主要非英语国家由于宏观经济政策出现了一些失误,错失了20世纪90年代新经济发展的机遇,产业没有及时转型以及一些有强大势力的"利益集团"的消极影响,因而其经济增长速度放缓;而主要英语国家由于积极推进经济改革,及时调整产业结构,注重技术创新和提高劳动生产率,充分利用英语语言工具在全球中的优势,因而加快了本国经济的发展.主要英语国家经济与非英语国家经济的增长差别,给其他国家发展本国经济提供了许多有益的启示.     

经济全球化对发展中国家经济安全的影响

目前,经济全球化迅速发展.给发展中国家的经济安全带来了严峻的挑战。本文从金融、产业及信息三个方面分析了经济全球化对发展中国家经济安全产生的影响及其相应采取的措施。     

Growth effects of FDI in 80 developing economies: the role of policy reforms and institutional constraints

Theoretical and empirical literatures have identified several channels through which foreign direct investment (FDI) influences economic growth. This paper examines the impact of FDI on economic output growth per worker using aggregate production function augmented with FDI inflows, economic policy reforms and institutional constraints. The paper covers 80 developing countries over the period 1980–2006. We use panel data and employ fixed, random effects and GMM methods for estimation. Our results highlight the importance of FDI, policy reforms and institutional development for growth in developing economies. Finally, we demonstrate that irrespective of reforms and institutions, an increase in FDI affects output growth positively.     

The real exchange rate and economic growth: are developing countries different?

Recent research has found a positive relationship between real exchange rate (RER) undervaluation and economic growth. Different rationales for this association have been offered, but they all imply that the mechanisms involved should be stronger in developing countries. Rodrik (2008 Rodrik, D. 2008. The real exchange rate and economic growth. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2: 365–412.  [Google Scholar]) explicitly analyzed and found evidence that the RER–growth relationship is more prevalent in developing countries. We show that his finding is sensitive to the criterion used to divide the sample between developed and developing countries. Using alternative classification criteria and empirical strategies to evaluate the existence of asymmetries between groups of countries, we find that the effect of currency undervaluation on growth is indeed larger and more robust for developing economies. However, the relationship between RER undervaluation and per capita GDP is non-monotonic, and is limited largely to the least developed and richest countries. This discontinuity constitutes a puzzle that calls for closer analysis.     

The Lost Decades: Developing Countries' Stagnation in Spite of Policy Reform 1980–1998

I document in this paper a puzzle thathas not received previous attention in the literature. In 1980–98,median per capita income growth in developing countries was 0.0percent, as compared to 2.5 percent in 1960–79. Yet I documentin this paper that variables that are standard in growth regressions—policieslike financial depth and real overvaluation, and initial conditionslike health, education, fertility, and infrastructure generallyimproved from 1960–79 to 1980–98. Developing countrygrowth should have increased instead of decreased according tothe standard growth regression determinants of growth. The stagnationseems to represent a disappointing outcome to the movement towardsthe ``Washington Consensus' by developing countries. I speculatethat worldwide factors like the increase in world interest rates,the increased debt burden of developing countries, the growthslowdown in the industrial world, and skill-biased technicalchange may have contributed to the developing countries' stagnation,although I am not able to establish decisive evidence for thesehypotheses. I also document that many growth regressions aremis-specified in a way similar to the Jones (1995) critique thata stationary variable (growth) is being regressed on non-stationaryvariables like policies and initial conditions. It may be thatthe 1960–1979 period was the unusual period for LDC growth,and the 1980–98 stagnation of poor countries representsa return to the historical pattern of divergence between richand poor countries.