Long run determinants of economic growth in a cross section of countries : theory and evidence

• Main Author: Uysal, Ali Enis
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1996
• Subjects: 338.94
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.645466

This thesis studies long run economic growth in a cross section of countries. Its main objective is to constitute the necessary empirical and theoretical means for explaining the disparities in growth rates across countries. It consists of four non-coherent chapters. The first chapter is an empirical study of post-war economic growth in a wide range of countries. It uses the data provided by Summers and Heston (Penn World Table) and examines the empirical determinants of growth by using advanced panel-data techniques. Chapter 2 is a theoretical model of technology acquisition in a world where innovation is a costly process. It stresses the importance of innovative activity on long run economic growth, and shows how countries may develop at different rates even when they share a common technological frontier. Chapter 3 is another empirical work where the attention is focused on the economic performance of six European countries during 20th Century. We find that World-War-2 has been a major influence in economic activity and left permanent effects on relative incomes. The last chapter of the thesis contains a theoretical econometrics work. It provides consistent criteria for simultaneous selection of autoregressive order with cointegrating rank. A Monte Carlo experiment stimulates the performance of these criteria in small samples.