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What have we learned from a decade of empirical research on growth? It's Not Factor Accumulation: Stylized Facts and Growth Models
Abstract
The article documents five stylized facts of economic growth. (1) The “residual” (total factor productivity, tfp) rather than factor accumulation accounts for most of the income and growth differences across countries. (2) Income diverges over the long run. (3) Factor accumulation is persistent while growth is not, and the growth path of countries exhibits remarkable variation. (4) Economic activity is highly concentrated, with all factors of production flowing to the richest areas. (5) National policies are closely associated with long‐run economic growth rates. These facts do not support models with diminishing returns, constant returns to scale, some fixed factor of production, or an emphasis on factor accumulation. However, empirical work does not yet decisively distinguish among the different theoretical conceptions of tfp growth. Economists should devote more effort toward modeling and quantifying tfp.
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Cites
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“In giving theoretical content to this residual, Grossman and Helpman (1991), Romer (1990) and Aghion and Howitt (1998) focus on technology, on better instructions for combining raw materials into useful products and services.”
BackgroundLong-Run Policy Analysis and Long-Run Growth
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Where did all the growth go? external shocks, social conflict, and growth collapses
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Do Real Output and Real Wage Measures Capture Reality? The History of Lighting Suggests Not
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Chapter 12 Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence
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The burden and costs of chronic diseases in low-income and middle-income countries.
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Algan, Y., & Cahuc, P. (2010) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.100.5.2060 · Cited by 1,286
Long-term economic growth projections in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
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Metadata
- Authors
- Easterly, W.
- Venue
- The World Bank Economic Review
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2001-08-01
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 177-219
- ISSN
- 0258-6770 (ISSN-L)
- 1564-698X
- OpenAlex
- W2058016438
- Cited by
- 1,443
- References
- 8
- FWCI
- 121.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Easterly, W. (2001). What have we learned from a decade of empirical research on growth? It's Not Factor Accumulation: Stylized Facts and Growth Models. The World Bank Economic Review. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/15.2.177
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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