1,721,009 research outputs found
Explaining inequality
No full textThis work reviews the book "Explaining inequality" (2016) by Maurizio Franzini and Mario Piant
What do we know about the link between growth and institutions?
No full textThe link between economic growth and institutions has been studied, theoretically and empirically, for more than ten years. The aim of this paper is to take stock of this literature in order to identify more precise and conscious directions for future research. First, we introduce the reference framework and raise some questions the literature should be able to answer. Then, we organise critically all the contributions so as to explain each result and the different paths undertaken. Finally, we conclude with several issues we believe deserve further attention
Institutions, the resource curse and the transition economies: further evidence
Get PDFBased on the various works on the relevance of the institutional arrangements for a country’s economic performance, this paper studies the role and the determinants of the reform policies for the development paths of the transition countries. Looking at the U.S.S.R breakdown as an extremely powerful “experiment” and considering the nature of its consequences, the paper investigates the importance of policy reforms for the productivity growth looking for possible structural break and differences among of the nations in transit. The paper studies the different patterns of reforms using a synthetic measure treated as endogeneous and instrumented by the rents coming from the natural endowments, the extent of the democratic progress and the trade openness. The paper proves that these determinants have played a different role in explaining the pattern of reform policies of the transition countries, which in turn has affected their productivity growth paths. Empirically, the paper develops a dynamic approach implementing the more advanced econometric techniques
What do we know about the link between growth and institutions?
No full textThe link between economic growth and institutions has been studied for more than ten years. Our goal is to take stock of this literature in order to identify more precise and conscious directions for future research. We first introduce the reference framework and by means of a simple comparative development exercise raise some questions a literature on this field should be able to answer. Being aware of the difficulty of the task, we then organise critically all the contributions so as to explain each result and the different paths undertaken. Finally, we conclude with several issues we believe deserve further attention
Kaldor's ‘technical progress function' and Verdoorn's law revisited
No full textKaldor put forward his technical progress function as an alternative to the neoclas-
sical aggregate production function. It is shown that Verdoorn’s law is its empirical
counterpart, although allowing for increasing returns to scale. However, both may
be derived from an aggregate Cobb-Douglas production function. But aggregation
problems and the Cambridge capital theory controversies have shown theoretically
that aggregate production functions in all probability do not exist. Moreover, the
only reason that estimations of ‘aggregate production functions’ give good results is
the existence of an accounting identity. This article reconsiders the technical progress
function and Verdoorn’s law, especially in the light of these problems. Nevertheless,
it is shown that estimates of the law do, in fact, provide insights into the growth
process very similar to those of Kaldor, but viewed from another perspective
THE RICH AND THE POOR IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE GREAT RECESSION: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
No full textThis paper proposes a theoretical framework of the factors that affect the gap between the rich
and the poor in the European Union. It uses a twelve-year panel data set from 2002 to 2012 of
27 countries to determine the short-term effects of the macroeconomic performance, the level of
household income inequality, and the social protection expenditure on the extremes of the income
distribution, controlling for several structural factors of income disparity. The impact of these variables
on the shares of income separately accruing to the bottom, median and top household income
is estimated. It is found that the three core determinants have a different impact before the
Great Recession of 2008 and during the crisis years, and a different public commitment towards
reducing disparities depending on the type of welfare regime
Income inequality in the European Union: evidence from a panel analysis
Get PDFUnderstanding the reasons underlying income inequality has generated considerable interest in the last years and various theoretical analyses have been developed to explain international differences in income distribution between groups of countries at different stages of economic development. However, structural investigations of the contemporary effects of the forces shaping the evolution of income inequality are difficult to find. Moreover, little attention has been given to the increasing inequality merely among advanced economies. For these reasons, we develop a theoretical framework to provide a comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting income distribution in a particular set of advanced economies, the European Union countries, and utilize a fifteen year panel of 25 countries to identify the short term effects of several considerable determinants of household income inequality. On the basis of the main findings, we conclude providing some policy indications
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