nep-pke New Economics Papers
on Post Keynesian Economics
Issue of 2014‒08‒09
three papers chosen by
Karl Petrick
Western New England University

  1. A Human Capital Theory of Growth: New Evidence for an Old Idea By Theodore R. Breton
  2. Where now after ten years of Eastern enlargement? By Andor, László
  3. The Rentier State at Work: Comparative Experiences of the Resource Curse in East Asia and the Pacific By Naazneen H. Barma

  1. By: Theodore R. Breton
    Abstract: In 1960 Theodore Schultz expounded a human capital theory of economic growth that includes three elements: 1) Countries without much human capital cannot manage physical capital effectively, 2) Economic growth can only proceed if physical capital and human capital rise together, and 3) Human capital is the factor most likely to limit growth. I specify Schultz’s theory mathematically and test it in periods when global financial capital was highly mobile. I find that in 1870, 1910, and 2000, the average schooling attainment of the adult population largely determined the stock of physical capital/capita and GDP/capita in 42 market economies.
    Keywords: Human Capital, Schooling, Capital Investment, Economic Growth, Solow Model, Market Economies
    JEL: E13 I21 O11 O15 O41
    Date: 2014–01–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000122:011999&r=pke
  2. By: Andor, László
    Abstract: The aim of this article is to evaluate the situation of the Central and Eastern European countries within the EU on the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Enlargement. Since 2004, the region has shown a trend to catch up with Western Europe in terms of both employment and economic performance. However, the financial and economic crisis which started in 2008 disrupted the previous trends of convergence for some, and greater differences emerged between individual countries' performances. The eastward enlargement has practically doubled labour mobility within the EU, and this phenomenon is likely to be sustained as long as income disparities between Member States persist. The 2004 and 2007 enlargements brought more welfare to the countries receiving mobile workers, whereas countries of origin bear the real risks of labour mobility from east to west. Today, it can be said that most of the newer Member States, irrespective of the varying speeds of convergence have developed within the EU as an 'inner periphery'. In order to make better use of the potential for economic growth in Central-Eastern Europe, investing in human capital should become a priority. The major question for the second decade of our enlarged European Union - aside from the reform of the monetary union - is whether the EU’s eastern region can continue to catch up without the internal socio-economic polarisation observed thus far, and whether the latter process can in fact be reversed.
    Keywords: European Union, enlargement, economic integration, labour mobility
    JEL: F15
    Date: 2014–07–31
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cvh:coecwp:2014/14&r=pke
  3. By: Naazneen H. Barma
    Abstract: Countries rich in natural resources do not all experience the resource curse in the same way. The rentier state logic holds that the main political–economic impacts of resource dependence rest on how the state handles windfall resource rents. I differentiate how countries experience the resource curse by disaggregating the rentier effect into how governments generate and distribute resource rents. A simple typology of variation in rentier state experiences explains how the overall credibility of intertemporal commitment and degree of political inclusiveness in a country determine its distinct experience of the resource curse. Four brief country cases—comparing the micro political economy of natural resource governance in Laos, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, and Timor-Leste—illustrate how intertemporal credibility and political inclusiveness affect patterns of resource rent generation and rent distribution. Different countries experience the resource curse in different ways, with implications for policy attempts at mitigation.
    Keywords: resource curse; rentier state; natural resource sector governance; intertemporal commitment; political inclusivness
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:5.26&r=pke

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