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on Economic Growth |
| By: | Oded Galor; Omer Ozak; Assaf Sarid |
| Abstract: | This research explores the economic causes and consequences of language structures. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that variations in pre-industrial geographical characteristics that were conducive to higher return to agricultural investment, larger gender gap in agricultural productivity, and more hierarchical society, are at the root of existing cross-language variations in the presence of the future tense, grammatical gender, and politeness distinctions. Moreover, the research suggests that while language structures have largely reflected the coding of past human experience and in particular the range of ancestral cultural traits in society, they independently affected human behavior and economic outcomes. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2016-7&r=gro |
| By: | Emilio Depetris-Chauvin (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile); Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | This research explores the deep historical roots and persistent effects of the division of labor in pre-modern societies. It advances the hypothesis, and establishes empirically that population diversity had a positive causal effect on the division of labor. Based on a novel ethnic level dataset combining geocoded ethnographic, linguistic and genetic data, this research exploits the exogenous variation in population diversity generated by historical migratory patterns to causally establish that higher levels of population diversity were conducive to economic specialization (of labor) and the emergence of trade-related institutions that, in turn, translated into differences in pre-modern comparative development. Additionally, this research provides suggestive evidence that regions historically inhabited by pre-modern societies with higher levels of economic specialization have higher levels of contemporary occupational heterogeneity, economic complexity and development. |
| Keywords: | Economic Specialization, Division of Labor, Trade, Comparative Development, Economic Development, Human Capital, Skill-Bias, Population Diversity, Genetic Diversity, Linguistic Diversity, Cultural Diversity, Persistence, Serial Founder Effect |
| JEL: | D74 F10 F14 J24 N10 O10 O11 O12 O40 O43 O44 Z10 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1610&r=gro |
| By: | Luis Alcala; Fernando Tohme; Carlos Dabus |
| Abstract: | We study the interaction between strategy, heterogeneity and growth in a two-agent model of capital accumulation. Preferences are represented by recursive utility functions with decreasing marginal impatience. The stationary equilibria of this dynamic game are analyzed under two alternative information structures: one in which agents precommit to future actions, and another one where agents use Markovian strategies. In both cases, we develop sufficient conditions to prove the existence of equilibria and characterize their stability properties. The precommitment case is characterized by monotone convergence, but Markovian equilibria may exhibit nonmonotonic paths, even in the long-run. |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1608.06959&r=gro |
| By: | Maurizio Intarglia; Juan Carlos Cuestas |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses whether institutional quality affects poverty, and unlike previous papers, we use a larger dataset and panel estimations. Whereas crosssection regressions disclose a relationship between the quality of institutions and poverty alleviation, this linkage vanishes in panel regression analysis. |
| JEL: | I3 O1 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nva:unnvaa:wp04-2014&r=gro |
| By: | Nouf Alsharif; Sambit Bhattacharya |
| Abstract: | Classical theory predicts that petroleum rich countries would specialise in petroleum products. Yet diversification is touted as a desirable policy objective for petroleum rich nations because it reduces exposure to volatility. Given such theoretical ambiguity, it is important to understand the empirical relationship between petroleum and diversification. In this paper, we test the effect of giant oil discoveries on diversification using a panel dataset covering up to 136 countries and the period 1962 to 2012. After controlling for country and year fixed effects, we find evidence of non-oil export concentration 8 years after a discovery. However, we do not observe any effect on the structure of employment in the non-resource and manufacturing sectors. It appears that democratic political institutions moderate the export concentration effect of petroleum discovery. Countries with weak political institutions experience employment concentration in the non-tradable sector post discovery. |
| Keywords: | Oil Discovery; Political Institutions; Structural Change; Export Diversification |
| JEL: | D72 O11 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2016-19&r=gro |
| By: | Attar, M. Aykut |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a second-generation Schumpeterian model to understand the nature of technological progress and economic growth in Turkey. It identifies some structural parameters numerically and tests whether certain Schumpeterian mechanisms work. Results show that, while horizontal (product) innovation works as determined in theory, vertical (process) innovation does not operate in the long run. Since the paper directly estimates the structural forms originating from the general equilibrium of the model economy, results do not carry any endogeneity bias. The paper also explains, in a quite transparent way, why the Turkish economy did not converge to frontier economies. The most appropriate policy under resource constraints is to strengthen the incumbent firms and support their growth, and the formation of new enterprises is not a policy priority. |
| Keywords: | R & D, entry, process innovation, product innovation, productivity, policy. |
| JEL: | O32 O41 O50 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73255&r=gro |