Showing papers on "Capital deepening published in 2003"

Entrepreneurship Capital and Economic Performance

Abstract: The neoclassical model of the production function, as applied by Robert Solow to build the neoclassical model of growth, linked labour and capital to output. More recently, Romer and others have expanded the model to include measures of knowledge capital. In this Paper we introduce a new factor, entrepreneurship capital, and link it to output in the context of a production function model. This Paper explains what is meant by entrepreneurship capital and why it should influence economic output. A production function model including several different measures of entrepreneurship capital is then estimated for German regions. The results indicate that entrepreneurship capital is a significant and important factor shaping output and productivity. These results suggest a new direction for policy that focuses on instruments to enhance entrepreneurship capital.

Specifying Human Capital

Abstract: A review of the measures of the stock of human capital used in empiricalgrowth research - including adult literacy rates, school enrollmentratios, and average years of schooling of the working-age population -reveals that human capital is mostly poorly proxied. The simple use ofthe most common proxy, average years of schooling, misspecifies therelationship between education and the stock of human capital. Based onhuman capital theory, the specification of human capital is extended toallow for decreasing returns to education and for differences in thequality of a year of education. The different specifications give riseto hugely differing measures of the stock of human capital acrosscountries, and development-accounting results show that misspecifiedhuman capital measures can lead to severe underestimation of thedevelopment effect of human capital.

Specifying human capital

Abstract: A review of the measures of the stock of human capital used in empiricalgrowth research - including adult literacy rates, school enrollmentratios, and average years of schooling of the working-age population -reveals that human capital is mostly poorly proxied. The simple use ofthe most common proxy, average years of schooling, misspecifies therelationship between education and the stock of human capital. Based onhuman capital theory, the specification of human capital is extended toallow for decreasing returns to education and for differences in thequality of a year of education. The different specifications give riseto hugely differing measures of the stock of human capital acrosscountries, and development-accounting results show that misspecifiedhuman capital measures can lead to severe underestimation of thedevelopment effect of human capital.

Capital Flows and Crises

Abstract: The implications of capital mobility for growth and stability are some of the most contentious and least understood contemporary issues in economics. In this book Barry Eichengreen discusses historical, theoretical, empirical and policy aspects of the effects, both positive and negative, of capital flows. He focuses on the connections between capital flows and crises as well as on those between capital flows and growth. Eichengreen argues that international financial liberalization, like other forms of economic liberalization, can positively affect the efficiency of resource allocation and the rate of economic growth. But analyses of both recent and historical experience also show an undeniable association between capital mobility and crises, especially when domestic institutions are weak and the harmonization of capital account liberalization and other policy reforms is inadequate. In his conclusion, Eichengreen makes suggestions for policy design to maximize the benefits of international financial liberalization while minimizing the risks of financial instability.

Human Capital Risk and Economic Growth

Abstract: This paper develops a tractable incomplete-markets model of economic growth in which households invest in risk-free physical capital and risky human capital. The paper shows that a reduction in uninsurable idiosyncratic labor income risk decreases physical capital investment, but increases human capital investment, growth, and welfare. A quantitative analysis based on a calibrated version of the model reveals that these effects are substantial and of the same order of magnitude as the effects of distortionary income taxation. The analysis further suggests that government-sponsored severance payments to displaced workers increase growth and welfare even if these payments have to be e nanced through distortionary income taxation.

The Impact of Intelligence and Institutional Improvements on Economic Growth

Abstract: Standard indicators of human capital endowment ? like literacy, school enrollment ratios or years of schooling ? suffer from a number of defects. They are crude. Mostly, they refer to input rather than output measures of human capital formation. Occasionally, they produce implausible effects. They are not robustly significant determinants of growth. Here, they are replaced by average intelligence. This variable consistently outperforms the other human capital indicators in spite of suffering from severe defects of its own. The immediate impact of institutional improvements, i.e., more government tolerance of private enterprise or economic freedom, on growth it is in the same order of magnitude as intelligence effects are.

Capital Controls and Foreign Direct Investment

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of three types of capital control policies on FDI: (i) the existence of multiple exchange rates; (ii) restrictions on capital account, and (iii) restrictions on the repatriation of export proceeds. We find that the impact of capital controls on FDI varies by region and has changed over time. In the 1970s and 1980s, none of the policies had a significant impact on FDI. In the 1990s, all three were significant. Furthermore, capital controls has no effect on FDI to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but affects FDI to East Asia and Latin America adversely.

New Estimates of Government Net Capital Stocks for 22 OECD Countries 1960-2001

Abstract: The issue of whether government capital is productive has received a great deal of attention recently, yet empirical analyses of public capital productivity have generally been limited to the official capital stock estimates available in a small sample of countries. Alternatively, many researchers have investigated the output effects of public investment-recognizing that investment may be a poor proxy for the corresponding capital stock. This paper attempts to overcome the data shortage by providing internationally comparable capital stock estimates for 22 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Copyright 2006, International Monetary Fund

IT in the European Union: Driving Productivity Divergence?

Abstract: This paper analyses the contributions of IT-capital deepening and total factor productivity growth (TFP) in IT-production on aggregate labour productivity growth patterns within the European Union in comparison with the US. We find that differences in the direct effects of IT almost fully explain the US lead in labour productivity growth over the EU aggregate over the period 1995-2001. However differences in the direct effects of IT are by no means the sole determinants of the widening of the "Atlantic Divide", neither the main cause of divergent labour productivity growth patterns within Europe. Non-IT capital deepening and non-IT TFP growth were major contributors to continued or even accelerating growth in small economies such as Austria, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Sweden. In Finland, Sweden and especially Ireland this was augmented by high contributions from IT, which were even higher than in the US. At the same time, decelerating labour productivity growth in major European countries such as France, Germany, Italy and the UK was mainly due to declining contributions of non-IT capital deepening and non-IT TFP growth compared to the period 1980-1995.

Social Capital, Economic Growth and Quality of Government: The Causal Mechanism

Abstract: (2003). Social Capital, Economic Growth and Quality of Government: The Causal Mechanism. New Political Economy: Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 49-71.

Capital Inflows and the Real Exchange Rate: A Comparative Study of Asia and Latin America

Abstract: The nexus of real exchange rate (RER) and capital inflows is examined through a comparative analysis of the experiences of emerging market economies in Asian and Latin America during the period 1985-2000. It is found that the degree of appreciation in RER associated with capital inflow is uniformly much higher in Latin American countries compared to their Asian counterparts, despite the fact that the latter experienced far greater foreign capital inflows relative to the size of the economy. The econometric evidence suggests that both the composition of capital flows and differences in the degree of response of RER to capital flows matter in explaining these contrasting experiences. While RER appreciation is a phenomenon predominantly associated with other (non-FDI) forms of capital inflows (OCFW), a given level of OCFW brings about a far greater degree of appreciation of the real exchange rate in Latin America where the importance of these flows in total capital inflow is also far greater. On the policy front, Asian countries seem to have used fiscal contraction and nominal exchange rate adjustment more effectively to cushion the RER against the appreciation pressure of capital inflows. There is, however, no evidence to suggest that sterilized intervention can generate a lasting impact on the real exchange rate.

Building and destroying social capital: The case of cooperative movements in Denmark and Poland

Abstract: Social capital, measured as the level of trustamong people, may be regarded as a newproduction factor alongside the traditionalones of human and physical capital. Withappropriate levels of social capital,monitoring and transaction costs can be savedand thus economic growth stimulated. Vialinking social capital to rural development andcomparing the cases of agricultural cooperativemovements in Denmark and Poland, this paperidentifies possible roots of building socialcapital and suggests that social capital wasbuilt through a lengthy process in bothcountries during the 19th century. However,the comparison of the present level of socialcapital indicates that the level of socialcapital is significantly higher in Denmark thanin Poland. The paper concludes that the reasonfor this difference is the fact that theoriginal accumulation of social capital inPoland was destroyed by the communist regime.

Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending

Abstract: The paper examines empirically the question of whether more unequal societies spend more on income redistribution than their more egalitarian counterparts. Theoretical arguments on this issue are inconclusive. The political economy literature suggests that redistributive spending is higher in unequal societies due to median voter preferences. Alternatively, it can be argued that unequal societies may spend less on redistribution because of capital market imperfections. Based on different data sources, the cross-country evidence reported in this paper suggests that more unequal societies do spend less on redistribution.

Determinants of Capital Flight: An econometric case study of Bangladesh

Abstract: While Bangladesh remains steeped in staggering external debt, it is also concurrently witnessing a substantial outflow of domestic capital. This situation raises serious policy concerns for its development prospects. This paper applies the Bounds testing and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag procedures to confirm the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between capital flight and its determinants, and to estimate the long-run and short-run behavior of capital flight from Bangladesh. The estimated results suggest that political instability is the single most significant cause of capital flight from Bangladesh, while increases in corporate income taxes, higher real interest rate differentials between the capital-haven countries and Bangladesh, and lower GDP growth rates also significantly contribute to capital flight.

Uncertainty and the Slowdown of Capital Accumulation in Europe

Abstract: The slowdown in the process of capital formation in continental Europe in the 1990s is analysed. Sector-level data from the OECD's International Sectoral Data Base (ISDB) are used. Econometric estimates of an investment function indicate structural instability in the early 1990s and, specifically, a break in the coefficient linking the growth of capital stock to demand. This result neither seems to be related to non-linearities in the relationship between capital formation and expected demand, nor to the sectoral composition of European economies. Evidence is found that the drop in the accelerator is at least partly attributable to greater demand uncertainty in the 1990s as compared with the earlier period.

Distinguishing Between the Effects of Primary and Post‐primary Education on Economic Growth

Abstract: The paper follows Benhabib and Spiegel (Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 34, 1994:143–73) in examining the effect of human capital accumulation on economic growth. The paper is innovative in two ways. First, it takes the R&D-based models more seriously. This delivers more structural specifications in which human capital affects growth as an input of final output and as a catalyst of technological innovation and imitation. Second, owing to data availability it is possible to disaggregate human capital and assign different roles to primary and post-primary education. Regression estimates obtained from these alternative specifications suggest that the relative contribution of human capital to technology adoption and final output production vary by country wealth. More importantly, regression estimates suggest that primary education contributes mainly to production of final output, whereas post-primary education contributes mainly to innovation and imitation of technology.

Contribution of information and communication technologies to growth

Abstract: Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies to Growth is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion. The worldwide development of information and communication technology (ICT) has accelerated dramatically over the past decade. Technological advances and increased competition have led to falling prices for ICT goods and services, which has provided a strong incentive to replace other forms of capital and labor with information technology equipment. Increased ICT production and use has the potential to create job opportunities, transfer skills, and increase efficiency and transparency in politics and business, and therefore, contribute to economic growth. This paper focuses on the linkage between ICT and output growth. It summarizes findings in the literature on the contribution of information and communication technology to economic growth arising from capital deepening and increases in total factor productivity. The paper contains: the methodologies used to evaluate the different ways ICT influences productivity growth; a critical assessment of the magnitude of ICT's contribution to growth in various countries; a summary of the key factors that increase and obstruct ICT expansion; and an outline of the challenges developing countries face in maximizing ICT's contribution to growth and policy recommendations aimed at surmounting these challenges.

Capital Account Openness and the Varieties of Growth Experience

Abstract: The effects of capital account openness on economic growth may vary across countries. Some countries may not have in place the constellation of institutions required to fully benefit from open capital accounts. Other countries may realize only small marginal improvements in the wake of capital account liberalization. This paper presents evidence of an inverted-U shaped relationship between the responsiveness of growth to capital account openness and income per capita. Middle-income countries benefit significantly from capital account openness. However, neither rich nor poor countries exhibit statistically significant positive effects. A similar inverted-U shaped relationship is found between the responsiveness of growth to capital account openness and various indicators of government quality.

Human Capital Externalities in Cities

Abstract: What is the effect of an increase in the overall level of human capital on the economy of a city? Although much is known about the private return to education, much less is known about the more important question of what happens to productivity, wages and land prices when the aggregate stock of human capital in a city increases. Increases in the aggregate stock of human capital can benefit society in ways that are not fully reflected in the private return of education. Human capital spillovers can in theory increase aggregate productivity over and above the direct effect of human capital on individual productivity. Furthermore, increases in education can reduce criminal participation and improve voters’ political behavior. In this chapter, I review what we know about social returns to education, with a particular emphasis on those externalities that accrue to local geographic areas. The focus of the chapter is on the empirical issues that arise in identifying these externalities and on the existing empirical evidence on their magnitude.

Human Capital, Ideas and Economic Growth

Abstract: This chapter develops and analyses empirically a simple model of human capital, ideas and economic growth that integrates contributions from several different strands of the growth literature. These strands, and a discussion of what I try to emphasize in the paper, are outlined below: Romer (1990) and the research-based new growth theory. Recent advances in new growth theory emphasize the importance of ideas, non-rivalry and imperfect competition for understanding the engine of economic growth. Romer (1993) argues that these issues may also be important for understanding economic development. Nelson and Phelps (1966) provide a way of thinking about technology transfer that incorporates both human capital and advantages to ‘backwardness’. Mankiw et al. (1992) (MRW). MRW show that a simple neoclassical model can explain up to 80 per cent of the cross-country variation in the log of per capita GDP, especially if it incorporates differences in human capital investment across countries. Barro and Lee (1993) and Bits and Klenow (1996). Barro and Lee provide an extensive panel data set on educational attainment for a large number of countries. Bils and Klenow argue for including educational attainment in a model in a way that is consistent with Mincerian wage regressions. Benhabib and Spiegel (1994), Islam (1995), Pritchett (1996), and Judson (1996). These papers document in various ways a puzzle involving the relationship between human capital and economic growth. The puzzle appears when one looks at a growth-accounting approach that involves variables, such as the Barro and Lee (1993) human capital stocks. In either simple or multivariate regressions of the growth rate output on the growth rate of the human capital stock, the human capital stock appears with a negative coefficient.

On the wealth of nations: Bourdieuconomics and social capital

Abstract: Why are some countries richer than others? We suggest in the line of political economy theory that traditional production factors cannot explain the observed differences. Rather, differences in the quality of formal institutions are crucial to economic wealth. However, this type of political economy theory accentuating the role of formal institutions cannot stand on its own. This implies a socio-economic approach in the study where we supplement the formal institutional thesis with Bourdieu’s idea of material and non-material forms of capital. Such new socio-economics – which might be termed a “Bourdieuconomics” – implies the usage of a capital theory that, methodologically, operates with material and non-material forms of capital at the same level. Here, we stress the particular importance of a non-material form of capital, namely social capital, which facilitates informal human exchange, thereby “lubricating” civic society and the voluntary provision of collective goods such as trust and predictable behavior. In this way, social capital reduces transaction costs in society, thereby enhancing economic growth and the creation of differences in the wealth of nations. Future research should therefore be directed towards analyses of a new and formerly disregarded production factor, socialcapital, within a new field of socio-economics, namely “Bourdieuconomics.”

Pension reform, capital markets, and the rate of return

Abstract: This paper discusses the consequences of population aging and a fundamental pen- sion reform – that is, a shift towards more pre-funding – for capital markets in Germany. We use a stylized closed-economy, overlapping-generations model to compare the effects of the recent German pension reform with those of a more decisive reform that would freeze the cur- rent pay-as-you-go contribution rate and thus result in a larger funded component of the pen- sion system. We predict rates of return to capital under both reform scenarios over a long ho- rizon, taking demographic projections as given. Our main finding is that the future decrease in the rate of return is much smaller than often claimed in the public debate. Our simulations show that the capital stock will decrease once the baby boom generations enter retirement even if there were no fundamental pension reform. The corresponding decrease in the rate of return, the direct effect of population aging, is around 0.7 percentage points. While the capital market effects of the recent German pension reform are marginal, the rate of return to capital would decrease by an additional 0.5 percentage points under the more decisive reform pro- posal.

Driving Forces of Venture Capital Investments in Europe: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

Abstract: Using dynamic panel estimations, this paper identifies driving forces of venture capital activity for Western European countries. Driving forces might be the liquidity of stock markets, human capital endowment, and labour market rigidities. The paper shows that these factors do not affect expansion stage investments used as a broader definition of venture capital, while they positively affect early stage investments used as a narrow definition. Thus, the results suggest not only that liquid stock markets play an important role for the development of venture capital markets but also that they are not the only factor that drives venture capital activity.

Capital Market Institutions and Venture Capital: Do They Affect Unemployment and Labour Demand?

Abstract: This paper analyses the influence of the capital market on the labour market. Especially the impact of start-up financing on the structure of unemployment is of interest. We use a cross-country panel data analysis to examine how venture capital investment influences disaggregate unemployment. As we expected, venture capital investment has different influences on sectoral-, educational- and occupational-specific unemployment. We suggest, on the basis of the regression results, that venture capital investment is a catalyst of structural change and has contributed to the faster growing internet and new economy sector in countries like the U.S. that have a well-developed venture capital market.