This paper studies the existence of middle-income growth traps in a two-period overlapping generations model of economic growth with two types of labor and endogenous occupational choices. It also distinguishes between "basic" and "advanced" infrastructure, with the latter promoting design activities, and accounts for a knowledge network externality associated with product diversification. Multiple steady-state equilibria may emerge, one of them taking the form of a low-growth trap characterized by low productivity growth and a misallocation of talent -- defined as a relatively low share of high-ability workers in design activities. Improved access to advanced infrastructure may help escape from that trap. The implications of other public policies, including the protection of property rights and labor market reforms, are also discussed.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/6210.pdf?abstractid=2152800&rulid=17786&mirid=1

Middle-Income Growth Traps

The dissertation aims to explore the supply and demand side determinant of child labour at macro, meso and micro level. At macro level it explores the effect of globalization (defined as openness to trade and inflow of foreign direct investment) and credit market imperfections on child labour. At meso level it explores the effect of labour market conditions on child labour. As the above two levels of analysis are mainly concerned with the demand for child labour, the micro level analysis explores the supply side determinant of child labour. At micro level this dissertation explores the effect of intrahousehold distribution of power on child related outcome. Specifically it explores the effect of mother’s decision making power on her child’s labour and schooling. The macro level analysis is based on cross country regression framework while meso and micro level analysis is based on the data from Pakistan.

At macro level, this dissertation points out that trade openness and FDI inflow raise the standard of living in an economy thereby reducing child labour incidence. As the channel through which trade could affect child labour is by increasing income of the poor, credit market imperfection shows insignificant effect. At meso level, this dissertation points out that high adult wages in an area increase demand for child labour while presence of adult unemployed proportion in an area reduces demand for child labour. However, presence of unemployed adult in a house increases supply of child labour. Exports, on one hand, reduce supply of child labour by affecting the income of poor at macro level while on the other hand at meso level, subcontracting of production process to small informal sector increases demand for child labour. The informal sector being unprotected by law employs a high proportion of child labour. At micro level mother’s decision making power significantly decreases child labour supply and increases child schooling. The effect is significant in case of girls but not in case of boys. This study also shows that whether children work for generating income or as family helpers, mothers are equally concerned for their welfare. Their decision making power significantly reduces labour among children.

/pdf/economics-of-child-labour-2l7xvudkz9.pdf

Economics of child labour

The role of globalization, real income, tourism in environmental sustainability target. Evidence from Turkey.

Labor market institutions and economic performance

The paper presents a theory of interest rate determination on informal credit in backward agriculture when there is a market for formal credit. The farmer has to bribe the official of the formal credit agency in order to get formal credit. The official and the moneylender play a non-cooperative game in choosing the amount of formal credit and the informal interest rate, respectively. The informal-sector interest rate and the effective formal-sector interest rate (incorporating the bribe) are equal in equilibrium. A reduction in the formal interest rate and/or an increase in the price of the product may lead to an increase in the equilibrium bribing rate and the informal interest rate when the formal credit and the informal credit are complementary to each other.

Formal Credit, Corruption and the Informal Credit Market in Agriculture: a Theoretical Analysis

This paper extends the one commodity two sector dynamic model of Kiley (1999) introducing two different commodities to be produced in two sectors and introducing international knowledge spill over from the rest of the world to the home country and localized knowledge spillover from the more advanced modern sector to the less advanced traditional sector. We analyse the effect of opening of international trade on the skilled unskilled wage inequality in the long run equilibrium. We show that the relationship between the skilled-unskilled wage ratio and the skilled unskilled labour endowment ratio under autarky is ambiguous; and the nature of this relationship depends on the degree of consumer's indifference substitution between the two final goods. However, when international trade is opened, its effect on this skilled-unskilled wage ratio in the long run equilibrium depends not only on the degree of consumer's indifference substitution between the two final goods but also on the intensity of spillover effects as well as on the intercountry difference in factor endowments.

International trade and wage inequality in a dynamic model

We develop a static North–South model where North and South are interlinked through international tourism. Northern consumers have demand for southern non-tradable tourism service. Northern develop...

International Tourism in a North–South Model: A Theoretical Analysis:

A time-minimisation problem of attaining a full-employment state is solved in a dual economy model where the rural-urban migration mechanism is of Harris—Todaro type. The optimum solution may appear as a policy of urban development at the most rapid rate.

https://koara.lib.keio.ac.jp/xoonips/modules/xoonips/download.php/AA00260492-19950001-0017.pdf?file_id=28643

Marketable surplus, urban unemployment and development planning

An endogenous growth model is developed where, on one hand income tax revenue is utilized to finance investment on public capital, and on the other hand tax concession is given on savings. If one of the two instruments—proportional income tax rate and proportional tax-concession rate on savings—is used as the policy variable to maximize the balanced growth rate while the other is treated as a parameter, an exogenous increase in the value of the parameter raises the optimum value of the policy variable and generates a positive effect on endogenous growth rate as well as on the rate of savings in the steady-state equilibrium.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s41775-020-00099-x.pdf

Public capital, endogenous growth, and tax concession on savings

In this paper we have developed a dynamic general equilibrium model of the international product cycle to study the eects of stronger Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection in the South on the rate of growth and the rate of unemployment of the unskilled labour in the South. By introducing eciency wage consideration into standard Grossman-Helpman(1991b) type North-South framework we have shown that stronger IPR in the South would lead to lower unskilled unemployment in the South when the wage gap between North and South is very high (wide-gap case). The eect on unemployment will be just the opposite if this wage gap is not too high (narrow-gap case). We also have studied the eects of technological improvements in the North and an increase in the supply of the skilled labour of both the region on the rate of unemployment in the South. We find that a unionised economy may grow at a dierent rate than a non-unionised economy when the unskilled labour market in the South is unionised .

/pdf/intellectual-property-rights-protection-endogenous-growth-1mumemc1sb.pdf

Manash Ranjan Gupta

Papers

International trade and wage inequality in a dynamic model

International Tourism in a North–South Model: A Theoretical Analysis:

Marketable surplus, urban unemployment and development planning

Public capital, endogenous growth, and tax concession on savings

Intellectual property rights protection, endogenous growth and unemployment in a north-south model