nep-fdg New Economics Papers
on Financial Development and Growth
Issue of 2014‒02‒15
seven papers chosen by
Iulia Igescu
Global Insight, GmbH

  1. Economic Growth and Health Indicator in Thailand By durongkaveroj, wannaphong
  2. The Long-Term Effects of Protestant Activities in China By Chen, Yuyu; Wang, Hui; Yan, Se
  3. Fiscal Sustainability and Economic Growth in Bolivia By Rodolfo Mendez-Marcano; Jose Pineda
  4. Prospective Ageing and Economic Growth in Europe By Jesus Crespo Cuaresma; Martin Lábaj; Patrik Pruzinský
  5. INSTITUTIONS, DEMOCRACY AND GROWTH IN THE VERY LONG RUN By Konstantin Yanovskiy; Sergey Shulgin
  6. Business Cycle Persistence in a Model with Schumpeterian Growth and Uncorrelated Shocks By Chase Coleman; Kerk Phillips
  7. The medium-term effect of R&D on firm growth By Capasso M.; Treibich T.G.; Verspagen H.H.G.

  1. By: durongkaveroj, wannaphong
    Abstract: This study aimed at estimating the relationship between economic growth measured by per capita Gross National Income (GNI) and health indicators including life expectancy and mortality rate under 5 in Thailand between 1980 - 2011 using Cochrane - Orcutt Model.The results from revealed that only mortality rate under 5 has a strong relationship with an economic growth. Thus, the reform in medical and sanitation system in Thailand will be able to stimulate the economic prosperity and lead to development further.
    Keywords: health indicator, economic growth, cochrane orcutt model
    JEL: I15 I18 O1
    Date: 2014–02–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53494&r=fdg
  2. By: Chen, Yuyu; Wang, Hui; Yan, Se
    Abstract: Does culture, and in particular religion, exert an independent causal effect on long-term economic growth, or do culture and religion merely reflect the latter? We explore this issue by studying the case of Protestantism in China during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Combining county-level data on Protestant presence in 1920 and socioeconomic indicators in 2000, we find that the spread of Protestantism has generated significant positive effects in long-term economic growth, educational development, and health care outcomes. To better understand whether the relationship is causal, we exploit the fact that missionaries purposefully undertook disaster relief work to gain the trust of the local people. Thus, we use the frequency of historical disasters as an instrument for Protestant distribution. Our IV results confirm and enhance our OLS results. When we further investigate the transmission channels over the long historical period between 1920 and 2000, we find that although improvements in education and health care outcomes account for a sizable portion of the total effects of missionaries’ past activities on today’s economic outcomes, Protestant activities may have also contributed to long-term economic growth through other channels, such as through transformed social values. If so, then a significant amount of China’s growth since 1978 is the result not just of sudden institutional changes but of human capital and social values acquired over a longer historical period.
    Keywords: Protestantism, Economic Growth, Education, Health Care, China
    JEL: I25 N15 N35 O11 O43 Z12
    Date: 2014–01–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53531&r=fdg
  3. By: Rodolfo Mendez-Marcano; Jose Pineda
    Abstract: In this paper we analyze the role played by fiscal sustainability shocks on the Bolivian economic growth performance. To do this, we impose restrictions on a VAR for the Bolivian economy that allow us to identify fiscal sustainability shocks. We argue that imposing long run identification restrictions in our tructural VAR is a new (applied to fiscal issues) and useful way to identify the macroeconomic impact of shocks on fiscal sustainability. Our results show a significant lost in the level of GDP in the Bolivian economy as a consequence of the sequence of adverse fiscal sustainability shocks this economy has experienced. Although, fiscal sustainability shocks have not permanent effect on Bolivia’s economic growth, the fact that adverse fiscal sustainability shocks has occurred during the period studied (in a significant way at least during the late 70s early 80s and at the late 90s early 2000s) have negatively affected Bolivian economic growth. Our results also show that inflation has been affected by fiscal sustainability shocks, especially the adverse shocks experienced during the period from 1977 to 1986, which ended in the hyperinflation in 1985.
    Keywords: SVAR; identifying restrictions; small open economies; fiscal policy; debt
    JEL: E32 E62 F41 H62 H63 O11
    Date: 2014–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1406&r=fdg
  4. By: Jesus Crespo Cuaresma (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Martin Lábaj (Department of Economic Policy, Faculty of National Economy, University of Economics in Bratislava); Patrik Pruzinský (Department of Economic Policy, Faculty of National Economy, University of Economics in Bratislava)
    Abstract: We assess empirically the role played by prospective ageing measures as a predictor of income growth in Europe. We show that prospective ageing measures which move beyond chronological age and incorporate changes in life expectancy are able to explain better the recent long-run growth experience of European economies. The improvement in explanatory power of prospective ageing indicators as compared to standard measures based on chronological age is particularly relevant for long-run economic growth horizons.
    Keywords: Economic growth, ageing, prospective age, old age dependency ratio
    JEL: I15 O15 O52
    Date: 2014–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp165&r=fdg
  5. By: Konstantin Yanovskiy (Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy); Sergey Shulgin (RANEPA)
    Abstract: In this paper we tested the hypothesis of the "political" basis for the "economic" rights. We constructed our own variables of political regimes' classification for years 1820-2000. We found significant positive interdependencies between the Democracy's indicators and Economic Growth. Protection of the Private property rights requires, first and foremost, due guaranties for the personal immunity as a key precondition. Power to arrest discretionary undermines any formal guaranties of private property, low taxation benefits etc. Personal immunity should be defended even for "unpleasant" person (say, H. Ford or W. Gates) or for the chieftains' challengers (to make "rights of the meanest … respectable to the greatest"). It means the free speech; religious freedom and other "political rights" should be respected. Democracy, as political competition system weakens governments' power to break personal freedoms and property rights.
    Keywords: : Rule of Law, Rule of Force, Personal Rights, Private Property Protection, Economic Growth
    JEL: P16 P50 N40 O43
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gai:wpaper:0082&r=fdg
  6. By: Chase Coleman (Stern School, New York University); Kerk Phillips (Department of Economics, Brigham Young University)
    Abstract: This paper explores the merits of a DSGE model incorporating Schumpeterian type growth into an otherwise standard RBC model similar to the one in Phillips and Wrase (2006). We consider a model with two exogenous shocks. The first is a standard productivity shock. The second is an aggregate shock to the stock of basic knowledge and arrives as a Poisson process with an arrival rate influenced by economy-wide spending on R\&D. We show that this model is capable of generating both an observed total factor productivity and GDP series that is autocorrelated, even when all the shock processes are serially uncorrelated. We present empirical evidence that the driving process in our model is consistent with the behavior of the U.S. economy
    Keywords: autocorrelation, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium, business cycles, technology persistence, Schumpeterian, economic growth, GDP, TFP
    JEL: C63 E32 E37
    Date: 2014–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:byu:byumcl:201401&r=fdg
  7. By: Capasso M.; Treibich T.G.; Verspagen H.H.G. (UNU-MERIT)
    Abstract: This study analyses the medium-term effect of RD expenditure on firm employment growth. Four cross-sectional waves of an innovation survey conducted in the Netherlands have been used to evaluate the effect on firm growth in the five years following the investment. Panel data fixed effect techniques, also allowing for selection bias corrections, indicate a positive influence of RD on growth. Limited dependent variable models have been used throughout the whole analysis to consider explicitly the cases of firms exiting the market in the analysed medium term.
    Keywords: Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance: General; Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior: General; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D;
    JEL: L20 L10 O32
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014001&r=fdg

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