Essays on Regional Growth: Institutions, Geography and Economic Policies

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2003

RESUMO

This thesis examines regional growth and convergence in income per capita in light of new panel data econometrics techniques as applied to the empirics of growth. The first chapter uses geographic and institutional diversity in Brazilian states to evaluate how much of the differences in state income are due to each factor. Our results show, first, that the rate of convergence across states increases substantially once geographical characteristics are accounted for. Second, institutions, when instrumented for with geographical characteristics, significantly affect income levels. However, several institutional indicators cease to be significant once additional geographic characteristics are added to the specification. The paper adds to the literature on geography versus institutions by thoroughly examining the ca se of Brazil between 1940 and 1995. The second chapter examines the role of policies at the national and European Union levels in furthering regional income growth between 1980 and 2000. We answer three distinct questions. First, are European regions converging? Our answer is that they are not. Second, does regional policy at the European Union level further convergence? We find that policies aimed at less developed and rural areas do not further growth, while policies aimed at declining industrial regions do have a positive growth effect. Thirdly, what is the impact of national policies? We find that investment has a strong positive effect on regional income growth, suggesting national policies may be essential for convergence across European regions. The third chapter reviews the theoretical growth models on which the two first chapters are based, as well as developments in the econometric methodology on panel data estimation as applied to the study of growth empirics. We show that the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) allows us to obtain consistent as well as efficient estimators of the coefficients in panel data empirical growth models. The application of this econometric technique can bring new insights to the analysis of growth empirics.

ASSUNTO(S)

regional growth economic growth economia

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

Documentos Relacionados