Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study (Lionel Robbins Lectures) [Paperback]

Robert J. Barro (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262522543 | ISBN-13: 978-0262522540 | Publication Date: July 31, 1998

Nothing matters more to the long-term economic welfare of a nation than its rate of economic growth. Compounded over many years, seemingly small differences in annual growth rates can lead to vast differences in standards of living. Research on economic growth has exploded in the past decade. Hundreds of empirical studies on economic growth across countries have highlighted the correlation between growth and a variety of variables. Determinants of Economic Growth, based on Robert Barro's Lionel Robbins Memorial Lectures, delivered at the London School of Economics in February 1996, summarizes this important literature.The book contains three essays. The first is a survey of the research on the determinants of long-run growth through the estimation of panels of cross-country data. The second essay details the interplay between growth and political freedom or democracy and finds some evidence of a nonlinear relationship. At low levels of political rights, an expansion of rights stimulates growth; however, once a moderate level of democracy has been obtained, a further expansion of rights reduces growth. The final essay looks at the connection between inflation and economic growth. Its basic finding is that higher inflation goes along with a lower rate of economic growth.Unlike recent work that has focused on "endogenous" growth theories, in which the long-term growth rate was determined by government policies and other forces contained in the model, cross-country empirical work draws heavily on the older neoclassical model. The neoclassical model's central idea of conditional convergence receives strong support from the data: holding measures of government policy, initial levels of human capital, and other variables constant, poor countries grow faster than rich countries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Professor Barro has been right in the vanguard of the recent empiricalliterature on economic growth and development. In this little book heprovides fascinating new evidence on the interplay between democracy andeconomic development, and of the impact of inflation on growth, as well asreviewing the evidence on convergence. In all respects a tour-de-force." Charles Bean, Professor, London School of Economics

About the Author

Robert J. Barro is Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. About Robert Barro: "He has changed the way economists think about everything from the long-run effects of government deficits to the forces that favor economic growth." --Sylvia Nasar, New York Times

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (July 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262522543
• ISBN-13: 978-0262522540
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A careful study., October 6, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Aspen, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study (Lionel Robbins Lectures) (Paperback)

This book is essentially a report on a series of analyses of the determinants of growth, democracy, civil liberties, and inflation. As a statistical analysis with interpretation, it is excellent. If you want to know what factors really affect these variables, you will find answers here. However, the utility for modelers is limited, because the author inexplicably omits to report the extimated constant terms in any of his regressions. One hopes that succeeding publications will provide more help to those who are trying to construct dynamic models of economic growth.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For advanced students, January 13, 2001

By 

Gerardo Villoslado (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study (Lionel Robbins Lectures) (Paperback)

The person who buys this book must be really acquainted with economics (senior or master). It involves, as the title states, the determinants of growth and inflation, along with political matters. I really liked this book because it gathers econometric models to support the essays that consists in many political variables just as democracy and civil rights. Barro, as a Harvard professor, has a well-known academic life. So I would suggest for every macroeconomic student to buy this book, it really helps for courses just as Macroecon or Development Economics.