Economic Growth [Hardcover]

Robert J. Barro (Author), Xavier I. Sala-i-Martin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262025531 | ISBN-13: 978-0262025539 | Publication Date: October 10, 2003 | Edition: 2nd

This graduate level text on economic growth surveys neoclassical and more recent growth theories, stressing their empirical implications and the relation of theory to data and evidence. The authors have undertaken a major revision for the long-awaited second edition of this widely used text, the first modern textbook devoted to growth theory. The book has been expanded in many areas and incorporates the latest research.After an introductory discussion of economic growth, the book examines neoclassical growth theories, from Solow-Swan in the 1950s and Cass-Koopmans in the 1960s to more recent refinements; this is followed by a discussion of extensions to the model, with expanded treatment in this edition of heterogenity of households. The book then turns to endogenous growth theory, discussing, among other topics, models of endogenous technological progress (with an expanded discussion in this edition of the role of outside competition in the growth process), technological diffusion, and an endogenous determination of labor supply and population. The authors then explain the essentials of growth accounting and apply this framework to endogenous growth models. The final chapters cover empirical analysis of regions and empirical evidence on economic growth for a broad panel of countries from 1960 to 2000. The updated treatment of cross-country growth regressions for this edition uses the new Summers-Heston data set on world income distribution compiled through 2000.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Barro and Sala-i-Martin have done a superb job of synthesizing much of the existing theoretical and empirical research on the mechanisms and determinants of economic growth and convergence. Though it incorporates much new material, this updated version is fully accessible to a third year undergraduate student, while remaining of invaluable use to any research scholar seriously interested in growth and development economics."--Philippe Aghion, Department of Economics, Harvard University

"Barro and Sala-i-Martin provide an outstanding and comprehensive treatment of growth theory and empirics—an instant classic! I learn something new every time I pull my copy from the shelf." Charles I. Jones , Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

"Laurence Kotlikoff is the world's leading authority on savings behavior: its causes and its consequences for public policy. These essays are a worthy successor and extension to his What Determines Savings? Anyone who wants to stay current on research in public finance will want to read the recent contributions collected here."--Robert E. Lucas, Jr., John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor, The University of Chicago, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1995)Please note: "What Determines Savings?" is in italics.

"Dalia Marin and Monika Schnitzer have produced the first serious theory of barter in emerging market economies. Using the methodology and techniques of modern contract theory, they show how barter trade can mitigate contractual enforcement problems in relationships involving moral hazard in technology trade and debt repayments. They also provide an illuminating analysis of barter in transition economies where firms are both highly credit-constrained and operating in a non-competitive environment with a small number of suppliers and customers. This book will become a classical reference in the fields of transition, international trade and international finance, and also for all students and researchers interested in economic development and institutions."--Philippe Aghion, Department of Economics, Harvard University

"Lionel McKenzie's new monograph is a pleasure to read. Only a major contributor to economic theory could teach general equilibrium theory with such clarity and authority. The book is gracefully written and rigorous, and does an elegant job of situating competitive equilibrium theory in the economic and mathematical traditions from which it evolved."--Robert E. Lucas, Jr., John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor, The University of Chicago, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1995)

"Barro and Sala-i-Martin provide an outstanding and comprehensive treatment of growth theory and empirics -- an instant classic! I learn something new every time I pull my copy from the shelf."--Charles I. Jones, Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

The long-awaited second edition of an important textbook on economic growth—a major revision incorporating the most recent work on the subject.

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 Xavier Sala-i-Martin is Professor of Economics at Columbia University, and visiting professor at the University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 2nd edition (October 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262025531
• ISBN-13: 978-0262025539
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, December 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Economic Growth (Mcgraw-Hill Advanced Series in Economics) (Hardcover)

This book is obviously the product of two great teachers! Everything is very clearly explained. There are some very nice details about conditional convergence across the US states. If you're looking to augement your economics knowledge after taking an intermediate macroeconomics class, short of actually taking one of these author's classes, this would definitely be the way.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Augment your economics knowledge!, July 21, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Economic Growth (Mcgraw-Hill Advanced Series in Economics) (Hardcover)

You cannot avoid reading this book if you are going to do any advance undergraduate economics courses......
Well, not really, but if you read through chapters 1 to 5 and take time to workout the equations, you will surely find your knowledge in economics augment quite a bit: as long as you do not enrol into a PhD course, equations in economics texts can no longer unnerve you.
Furthermore, according to my lecturer, this is the only introductory text on growth theory which covers New Growth Theory (chapter 6), i.e. models with imperfect competition and innovation .
An evidence of this book's popularity: I saw a big pile of them in Blackwell's in Oxford (biggest bookstore in Britain)

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Economic Growth is just Super!, January 4, 2004

By 

Hilary Sarneski-Hayes (Fairfield, CN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Economic Growth (Hardcover)

Prior to having used this book, Macroeconomics was the bain of my life. A short sweater wearing Frenchman assigned it as the set text of his course and everything changed. The models are clear, lucid and stimulating. The exposition is first rate and the mix of theory with empirics is frankly breathtaking.

I used to turn up 20 minutes late to macro lectures out of fear, now I wake up early asking myself "How can I make Peru grow faster". Is Economic Growth dull? Now, not so much as not at all...