POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM, FISCAL POLICY, AND GROWTH NEXUS: SOME EMPIRICAL RESULTS FOR FIJI

This article presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between political and civil liberty, economic freedom, and growth for Fiji. Fiji's experience of two military coups in 1987, the delay to resolve the agricultural land lease issues, and the implementation of the 1990 Constitution have been major setbacks in terms of Fiji's nondemocratic political environment and uncertain economic policies, a decline in the private investment and exports, and an exodus of skilled labor. This experience severely damaged the growth prospects whereby unstable sociopolitical institutions undermined the importance of economic freedom and civil liberties of its citizens and foreign investors. Empirical results presented here support the view that democratic values and economic freedom are significant for growth. A statistical test for the endogeneity of democracy variable rejects the null, thus the reverse causality, so democratic environment and economic freedom lead to higher economic growth.     

VOTER PREFERENCES,INSTITUTIONS, AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM

The enormous impact that economic freedom can have on economic outcomes makes an understanding of the factors or forces affecting its level paramount. To what extent do citizen preferences regarding the role of government in the economy drive the level of or changes in economic freedom? We explore this question using a new index of voting in the U.S. Congress constructed consistent with the Fraser Institute indices of economic freedom. We use voting on national legislation to examine state‐level economic freedom to clearly separate the measurement of preferences from policies that at least partly reflect these preferences. We find that Congressional votes, both from the House and Senate, are related to increases in state economic freedom, and that the result is generally statistically and economically significant, and robust to inclusion of a variety of socioeconomic control variables. (JEL D72, H10, H50)     

GROWTH,INEQUALITY, AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM: EVIDENCE FROM THE U.S. STATES

This article returns to the discussion of how income inequality affects economic growth. The main argument of the article is that economic freedom is likely to mediate the association between inequality and growth. In a panel of 300 observations from six 5‐year periods across the 50 U.S. states, I employ five different measures of inequality. The results show that across measures, the growth effects of inequality turn more positive with more economic freedom. The moderating effects are mainly driven by measures of public sector consumption. (JEL O11, O38, O43, P48)     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND ECONOMIC DYNAMISM

We analyze the consequences of economic freedom on economic dynamism across U.S. states and over time. Using data from the Economic Freedom of North America index, we show that states with greater economic freedom have higher rates of gross and net job creation and establishment entry. The results are robust to the inclusion of many different control variables and alternative specifications, suggesting a connection between freedom and dynamism. This evidence supports theories in which government policies may impede business dynamism. (JEL 043, P16, R5)     

ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND STATE BOND RATINGS

Are state bond ratings, ceteris paribus, related to economic freedom? We test for the relationship between economic freedom and an aggregate index comprised of ratings by Standard & Poor, Moody's, and Fitch. We also test for a relationship between economic freedom and the ratings by these three agencies individually. With a sample covering all 50 states for the period 1995–2008, the evidence strongly indicates that state bond ratings are positively and significantly related to overall economic freedom as well as three sub‐categories of economic freedom. Our results show that the quantitative impact of economic freedom on bond ratings is comparable to the effect of state real income and the unemployment rate. (JEL E43, H71)     

经济自由及其变动的增长效应-来自跨国经济增长面板数据的再检视

经济自由是市场经济的基础,是社会基础设施(Social Infra-structure)的核心内涵。经济自由的提升有利于提高存量资本的生产配置效率,并对国内外投资给出积极信号,推动经济增长。本文在新古典经济增长理论框架下,研究各国社会基础设施发展水平的不同及其转型动态,用近百个国家的增长面板数据验证经济自由水平及其提升的增长效应。此外,本文还用动态面板数据的GMM估计方法检验发现,经济自由是经济增长的Granger原因,而后者不是前者的Granger原因。该结论对发展中国家的经济发展政策具有指导意义。     

UNDERSTANDING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Review of Explaining Growth: A Global Research Perspective, edited by Gary McMahon and Lyn Squire and Productivity Growth, Inflation, and Unemployment: The Collected Essays of Robert J. Gordon by Robert J. Gordon     

TELECOMMUNICATIONS, FACTOR SUBSTITUTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

De La Grandville (1989) suggests that large elasticities of substitution between factor inputs and a change in relative prices might (i) explain historical economic growth in developing countries and (ii) account for the varying growth among sectors within economies undergoing technological change. Yuhn (1991) supports de La Grandvilles first hypothesis in his finding that Korea's economic growth relative to the United States, over a given interval, could be explained by the higher elasticities of substitution between labor and capital in Korea relative to those of the United States. This paper explores de La Grandville's second hypothesis with respect to telecommunications.     

反腐败、市场建设与经济增长

在市场不完善的情况下,有一部分腐败活动虽然有损于社会公平和正义,而且造成了社会资源的损耗,但对经济资源的配置也有着一定的作用.该文通过一个经济增长模型讨论了代表社会利益的政府如何规划反腐败路径,并保证经济的增长.分析结果表明,政府是可能在反腐败的同时实现经济增长的.一旦政府开始加大反腐败力度,则社会的腐败程度将持续下降.随着市场的完善,经济资源可以更好地借助于市场机制进行配置,这时社会可以加大打击腐败的力度.如果腐败的路径依赖性更强,政府也将加强对腐败的打击.     

FACTOR SUBSTITUTION,MECHANIZATION, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

This paper tries to explain the polarization of economic growth through mechanization. We derive a complementary relationship between capital accumulation and mechanization. While we assume an external effect that occurs as a result of mechanization, given the external effect, mechanization yields a constant‐elasticity‐of‐substitution production function in which the elasticity‐of‐substitution is greater than unity as the envelope of Cobb–Douglas production functions. When mechanization is difficult, which implies a low value for the elasticity‐of‐substitution, and the external effect is weak, there is potential for multiple steady states to exist.     

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Recent contributions by Brookes (1990), Saunders (1992), and Inhaber and Saunders (1994) argue that cost-effective improvements in energy efficiency may, in the long run, lead energy use to grow more rapidly than it would in a world of fixed technologies. Since efficiency improvements may be viewed as a form of technological change that both reduces the effective cost of energy services and stimulates economic activity, energy demand may, under some circumstances, rise even as energy productivity improves. This paper examines this hypothesis using a simple model that distinguishes the roles of energy and energy services in production activities. In this model, improved energy efficiency can-not give rise to increased energy use unless: (i) energy costs dominate the total cost of energy services and (ii) expenditures on energy services constitute a large share of economic activity. Since neither of these assumptions is empirically plausible, the paper concludes that energy efficiency improvements will yield long-run reductions in energy use under the assumptions of the model.     

经济结构变化和经济增长

本文试图从生产技术角度构建一个多部门的经济增长模型,同时容纳Kuznets事实和Kaldor事实。模型经济由最终部门和多个中间部门组成,最终产品由各中间产品以CES函数形式生产。各中间部门的技术增长率不同,而这种差异引起经济结构变化,并导致中间产品的相对价格变化,进而决定各中间部门之间要素流动和产值相对份额变动。最终产品的技术增长率为各中间部门的技术增长率加权平均和,并随经济增长单方向变动,变动方向与中间产品之间的替代弹性大小相关。     

INSTITUTIONAL TRAPS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

This article's point of departure is that low-quality institutions, concentration of political power and material wealth, and underdevelopment are persistent over time. Its analytical model views an equal distribution of political power as a commitment device to enhance institutional quality, thereby promoting growth. The politically powerful coalition contemplates relinquishing of its power through democratization, weighing this advantageous consequence against the limit on own appropriative ability that it entails. The possibility of two developmental paths is exhibited: with concentration of political and economic power, low-quality institutions, and slow growth; and a more equal distribution of political and economic resources, high-quality institutions, and faster growth.     

FOREIGN CAPITAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

This paper examines the economic implications of institutional arrangements by which foreign investors are required to reinvest a certain percentage of their capital within the host country. Our analysis shows that foreign capital inflow can produce long-lasting economic benefits to the host country only when the foreign capital reinvestment rate is sufficiently greater than the host country's saving rate. In this case, the economy evolves into a unique steady state equilibrium, which is also asymptotically stable. The paper also presents several comparative static results regarding the responses of steady state capital-labour ratio and the proportion of foreign capital in total capital to changes in the population growth rate, the rate of capital depreciation, the host country's saving rate and the foreign capital reinvestment rate.     

企业家合约与经济增长

基于奥地利学派关于市场过程是一个"企业家生成过程"的理念,本文将企业家生成于市场过程的问题与企业家合约的缔结和执行问题联系了起来,采用数理分析的方法模型化了联体企业家合约的生成过程,并从企业家合约的生成中推出了经济增长的数理表达式。就企业家合约生成而言,创意者和经营者的结合形成一个联体企业家,创意者对剩余索取权的最优要求随自己对经营者才干的预期以及对经营者的监管效率的增加而提高,经营者、投资者对其资产(才干、财富)报酬的要求与信息对称程度、失败残值大小呈反向关系,而与资产价格指数呈正向关系。经济增长速度和创意价值、激励效率和社会诚信等因素呈现正向关系,而与资产价格呈反向关系。     

区域一体化、经济增长与政治晋升

我国市场分割问题比较突出,但区域经济一体化的出现以及增多已成为一个重要现象.为什么有些省区选择市场分割,而有些却致力于区域一体化?地方政府在处理区际关系上的迥异行为是否具有内在一致性的解释?我们从中央政府按照经济绩效晋升地方政府官员的假设出发,构造一个地方官员晋升博弈模型,证明了,为了政治晋升最大化,地方官员选择地方市场分割还是区域一体化因条件而异.实证分析支持模型的预测.     

经济结构变化与经济增长

卡尔多事实描述的是发达工业化经济在短期内的现象,如果我们考虑欠发达国家,或者考虑工业化早期,卡尔多事实所反映的规律就会消失.一般而言,人均产出增长率与人均产出水平两者之间表现出非线性的驼峰形(hump-shaped)关系.该文认为,这种关系是由于经济内部结构的变化(即农业、制造业和服务业的相对比重变化)以及城乡劳动力转移和城市化引起的.进一步,该文提出了两种相互竞争的模型,一种认为经济增长由工业部门驱动,另一种则认为城市化是经济增长的动力.两种模型都与经济结构变化和经济增长的主要特征吻合,至于哪一个模型能更好地反映经济现实,则还需要进一步验证.     

经济结构变化与经济增长

卡尔多事实描述的是发达工业化经济在短期内的现象,如果我们考虑欠发达国家,或者考虑工业化早期,卡尔多事实所反映的规律就会消失。一般而言,人均产出增长率与人均产出水平两者之间表现出非线性的驼峰形(hump-shaped)关系。本文认为,这种关系是由于经济内部结构的变化(即农业、制造业和服务业的相对比重变化)以及城乡劳动力转移和城市化引起的。进一步,本文提出了两种相互竞争的模型,一种认为经济增长由工业部门驱动,另一种则认为城市化是经济增长的动力。两种模型都与经济结构变化和经济增长的主要特征吻合,至于哪一个模型能更好地反映经济现实,则还需要进一步验证。