Financial development,political rights,civil liberties and economic growth: Evidence from South Asia

A number of existing studies have examined the theoretical link between financial development and economic growth. Kose et al. (2010), among others, have argued that financial development can affect the extent of the benefits from foreign direct investment. Other studies, such as Huang (2010) have suggested that the quality of political institutions can also affect the level of financial development. This implies that the extent of the benefits from financial development also depend on the quality of governance. However, few empirical studies have considered these issues. By making use of panel data over the period 1970 to 2009, this paper focuses on the impact of the interaction of (i) financial development and foreign direct investment and (ii) financial development and the quality of governance on economic growth in South Asia. Our empirical analysis, suggests that financial development has contributed to an increase in the benefits of FDI in South Asia. In addition, improvement in political rights and civil liberties has also enhanced the benefits of financial development in South Asia.     

Foreign debt and economic growth

This paper empirically examines the relationship between government foreign debt and the growth rate of per capita GDP based on a total sample of 77 countries, as well as sub‐samples of various regions. Cross‐sectional estimates of the coefficient of foreign debt based on the total sample have a negative sign, but are not always statistically significant. Available data from African countries indicate that foreign debt and the growth rate of per capita GDP were negatively related at a high level of significance. For industrialized and Latin American sub‐samples, this relationship is negative but statistically insignificant. The sub‐sample Asian and other developing countries show a positive but insignificant relationship. JEL classification: F34, H6, O23.     

Government consumption,government debt and economic growth

This paper compares the effects of government consumption and government debt on economic growth using data from 83 countries, including both developed and developing markets, over the period from 1960 to 2014. Linear regressions reveal that the negative effects of government consumption are relatively higher than the negative effects of government debt. A nonlinear investigation further suggests that the restrictions on government expenditure to prevent negative growth are more important for countries with lower trade openness, lower inflation, or greater financial depth, whereas the restrictions on government debt are shown to be more important for countries with higher trade openness, lower inflation or greater financial depth.     

Measures of Human Capital and Nonlinearities in Economic Growth

In this paper we study the relationship between human capital accumulation and economic growth using various measures of human capital frequently employed by researchers. We use semiparametric estimation techniques to uncover any nonlinearities that may exist. Using mean years of schooling measures of human capital we find a nonlinear effect on economic growth. There seem to be important differences in the growth effect of educational attainment by gender and level of education. Enrollment rates do not yield a nonlinear effect.     

Conservation of biodiversity and economic development: The concept of transferable development rights

For ecological and economic reasons it is more cost effective to conserve habitats rather than species, and hence biodiversity conservation becomes a land use issue. Since in developing countries, land is the most important productive asset, the opportunity costs of conservation are forgone development, while the benefits from conservation are distant and largely external to the host country. The concept of transferable development rights (TDRs), which has been extensively applied to conservation of historical buildings in urban areas, is extended and adapted here to the conservation of biodiversity, both within a country and globally. Creation of a market for TDRs makes effective the latent demand for and supply of biodiversity conservation and generates benefits for both the supplier (developing countries) and the demander (developed countries). The paper explores the conditions and public interventions necessary for the creation of an active market for TDRs. It also proposes a number of mechanisms such as credits and offsets for purchase of TDRs against domestic regulations and conservation taxes in the developed countries.     

Human rights protection and foreign direct investment: The case of post‐socialist countries

The main aim of the paper is to evaluate the impact of respect for human rights in post‐socialist countries on the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI). The methodology used in the study consists of the two econometric model specifications–GMM spatial panel Durbin error model and panel gravity ordinary least squares model. The main results indicate a positive and significant relationship between respect for human rights and foreign investment. The outcomes of the spatial model suggest the presence of competition and reinforcement effects of particular kinds of human rights on FDI as well as significance of the ‘human rights distance’.     

GDP as a Measure of Progress and Human Development: A Process of Conceptual Evolution

The GDP concept has historically been used to measure human wellbeing and progress. This analytical purview is now coming into question. The GDP concept limits analysis to the economic factor and ignores the social and cultural. Analysis should focus on how well the people are doing. An avalanche of studies is now being directed toward dethroning the GDP as the sole indicator of human well-being and progress. This has been manifest in the derivation of many social indexes which indicate that while the global economy as well as the American economy are experiencing GDP growth, basic needs are not being fulfilled.     

论农村剩余劳动力转移中的人力资源开发

实现农村剩余劳动力的有效转移是发展农村经济、提高农业效率和增加农民收入的重要途径,但在农村剩余劳动力转移过程中,由于农村人力资源质量低下,从而导致农业经济发展缓慢.因此,应充分发挥政府的主导作用,营造良好的环境,加强人力资源开发,从而实现农村剩余劳动力的有效转移,促进全社会的和谐发展.     

Political instability and economic growth

This paper investigates the relationship between political instability and per capita GDP growth in a sample of 113 countries for the period 1950 through 1982. We define political instability as the propensity of a government collapse, and we estimate a model in which such a measure of political instability and economic growth are jointly determined. The main result of this paper is that in countries and time periods with a high propensity of government collapse, growth is significantly lower than otherwise. We also discuss the effects of different types of government changes on growth.     

Growth effects of leisure tourism and the level of economic development

This study examines (1) whether leisure tourism can contribute to economic growth and (2) if it does, whether its growth effects are constant across levels of economic development. Leisure tourism differs from business tourism in the causal relation with economic growth. In addition, the natural and heritage-related resources for leisure tourism are limited and not reproducible. This notion has a significant implication for the relationship between the growth effects of leisure tourism and the level of economic development. Thus, the current study focuses on leisure tourism and controls for the effects of business tourism. As an economy grows, the growth effects of leisure tourism are expected to diminish due to a lack of continued productivity improvement in the tourism industry. The empirical findings in this research reveal that leisure tourism contributes to economic growth at an early stage of economic development, but its contribution becomes weaker as the economy develops.     

The reduction of the UK budget deficit: a human rights perspective

This paper contributes to new thinking in economics by employing a human rights perspective to examine the budget deficit reduction strategy of the UK coalition government, as set out in 2010 in the June budget and October Spending Review. Focusing on economic and social rights, the paper explains the human rights obligations of governments and key human rights principles. As examples of how they should be applied to examine the deficit reduction strategy, it examines the implications of the policy changes for child poverty and gender equality, and finds that in both cases there is evidence to suggest non-compliance with the human rights obligations of the UK government.     

关于国际人权法院构建的设想

联合国已经形成的全面的人权法体系,现在更需要一个强有力的带有司法性质的机制实现其既定的人权保护目标。组建这样一个法院需要对法院组建的模式、法院的能力与程序以及与其他机构的关系等问题进行考虑。构想建立的国际人权法院将与人权条约机构在联合国框架内形成监督审查与申诉救济并行的保护机制,这样,联合国在实现人权机构改革方面的构想将更具可预见性。     

Adam Smith's theory of economic history and economic development

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show that Smith has a theory of economic history grounded in a politico-economic modeling (as well as a sort of economic theoretical modeling). In terms of the politico-economic approach, in the Wealth of Nations (Book III.ii–iv) Smith tried to offer a systematic account of economic development from feudalism to capitalism in Europe. These lead to suggest that the seeming internal inconsistency between the natural and the actual courses of progress in Book III may be resolved, and that Smith may be treated as a precursor of Douglass North, who stressed an inextricable link between the polity and the economy in economic history.     

Family,religion and economic performance: A critique of cultural determinism

Arguing that some attitudes that may constitute an obstacle to the development process are culturally funded, cultural determinism pleads that underdevelopment is essentially generated endogenously, in other words, that people in developing countries, with their beliefs and their attitudes, are the more liable for the poverty in which they live. The simplicity of these arguments has seduced a large number of scholars but what seems to be a cultural brake on economic development could be explained otherwise. This critique of cultural determinism's arguments attempts to supply an alternative version of the interaction of culture and development, from which power, class, domination and the international division of labour will not be excised. In order to simplify this study only two of the cultural features most often referred to will be brought into focus: religion and family and patterns of kinship.     

Bank bailouts and political instability

This paper studies bank solvency crises due to macroeconomic shocks in a model where government is prone to bailout because of cronyism. Citizens can dismiss the government and overrule its decision if they believe that a bailout is not economically justified. The results are as follows. First, the probability of a political crisis in equilibrium increases with the scope of the political principal-agent problem. Second, political uncertainty enlarges the set of parameters for which a banking crisis takes place and thereby increases financial instability. Third, politico-financial crises may stem from foreign lenders' loss of confidence.     

The political economy of corruption and the role of economic opportunities1

In many developing and transition countries, we observe rather high levels of corruption. We argue that the missing political support for anti‐corruption policies is due to a lack of economic and financial reforms. Our model is based on the fact that corrupt officials have to pay entry fees to get lucrative positions. In a probabilistic voting model, we show that this, together with the lack of economic opportunities, makes anti‐corruption policies less likely. Compared to a reformed economy, more voters are part of the corrupt system and, more importantly, rents from corruption are distributed differently. Economic liberalization increases the support for anti‐corruption measures. The additional effect of financial liberalization is ambiguous.     

Effective information,political structure and economic growth

Digital transformation of information led us to reconsider Hayek’s (American Economic Review, 35, 519–530) insight on a fuller use of information and re-classify political structures based on their information protection policies. This allows us to link the accumulation of information with the political structure to frame their joint impact on economic growth. We develop a model of ‘effective information’ beginning with information production and absorption and then allowing for its political propagation based on the degree of information protection. Using data from 40 countries, we find: (i) effective information and its spillovers contribute to an increase in productivity; and (ii) reductions in information protection bring larger increases in effective information as economies near an ‘information-technology frontier’ contributing to economic growth divergence.     

Economic freedom, civil liberties, political rights and growth: a causality analysis

Several empirical studies have established the relationship between economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights, and economic growth. Nevertheless, few studies analyze the directions of causality. This paper studies the causality relations between the institutional dimensions mentioned above and economic growth, as well as the interrelations between them, using the Granger methodology with panel data for 187 countries and five-yearly observations for the period 1976–2000. In addition, the relations between these freedoms and investment in physical and human capital are examined, to be able to isolate the direct and indirect effects on growth. The authors acknowledge the suggestions made by the editor and the reviewers, which have improved this work with respect to its initial version.