Journal ArticleDOI
Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions
William Easterly,Ross Levine +1 more
TLDR
This article showed that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics.Abstract:
Explaining cross-country differences in growth rates requires not only an understanding of the link between growth and public policies, but also an understanding of why countries choose different public policies. This paper shows that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is associated with low schooling, political instability, underdeveloped financial systems, distorted foreign exchange markets, high government deficits, and insufficient infrastructure. Africa's high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Country size and business cycle volatility: Scale really matters
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relationship between country size and business cycle volatility and found that smaller countries are subject to more volatile business cycles than larger countries, at least in terms of cyclical fluctuations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Does democracy facilitate economic growth or does economic growth facilitate democracy? An empirical study of Sub-Saharan Africa
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between democracy and economic growth in 30 Sub-Saharan African countries was examined and support for the Lipset hypothesis was found for the long run, real GDP Granger causes democracy and an increase in GDP results in an improvement in democracy.
BookDOI
Financing of firms in developing countries : lessons from research
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the stylized facts about firms in developing nations as well as the legal, financial and broader institutional framework in which these firms operate and highlight areas needing additional research.
Journal ArticleDOI
The elusive inequality-economic growth relationship: are there differences between cities and the countryside?
Belal Fallah,Mark D. Partridge +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors re-examine the inequality-economic growth debate by contending that it is not surprising that past research uncovered conflicting findings and that the transmission mechanism through which inequality/economic incentives influence economic growth can be affected by factors such as urbanization and social cohesion.
Journal ArticleDOI
Siting the Death Penalty Internationally
David F. Greenberg,Valerie West +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined sources of variation in possession and use of the death penalty using data drawn from 193 nations in order to test theories of punishment and found that the use of death penalty is rooted in a country's legal and political systems, and is influenced by its religious traditions.
References
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The mechanics of economic development
Abstract: This paper considers the prospects for constructing a neoclassical theory of growth and international trade that is consistent with some of the main features of economic development. Three models are considered and compared to evidence: a model emphasizing physical capital accumulation and technological change, a model emphasizing human capital accumulation through schooling, and a model emphasizing specialized human capital accumulation through learning-by-doing.
Journal ArticleDOI
On the mechanics of economic development
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the prospects for constructing a neoclassical theory of growth and international trade that is consistent with some of the main features of economic development, and compare three models and compared to evidence.
Posted Content
Law and Finance
Rafael La Porta,Rafael La Porta,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Andrei Shleifer,Andrei Shleifer,Robert W. Vishny,Robert W. Vishny +7 more
TL;DR: This paper examined legal rules covering protection of corporate shareholders and creditors, the origin of these rules, and the quality of their enforcement in 49 countries and found that common law countries generally have the best, and French civil law countries the worst, legal protections of investors.
ReportDOI
Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries
TL;DR: For 98 countries in the period 1960-1985, the growth rate of real per capita GDP is positively related to initial human capital (proxied by 1960 school-enrollment rates) and negatively related to the initial (1960) level as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined a cross-section of about 80 countries for the period 1960-89 and found that various measures of financial development are strongly associated with both current and later rates of economic growth.