This article investigates economic performance when enforceable property rights are missing and basic needs matter for consumption. It suggests a new view of the so-called voracity effect according to which windfall gains in productivity induce behavior that leads to lower economic growth. Taking into account that the rate of intertemporal substitution in consumption depends on the level of con...

This paper presents an evolutionary growth theory that captures the interplay between the evolution of mankind and economic growth since the emergence of the human species. This uni"ed theory encompasses the observed evolution of population, technology and income per capita in the long transition from an epoch of Malthusian stagnation to sustained economic growth. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All...

This research develops an evolutionary growth theory that captures the interplay between the evolution of mankind and economic growth since the emergence of the human species. The theory suggests that the struggle for survival that had characterized most of human existence generated an evolutionary advantage to human traits that were complementary to the growth process, triggering the take-o® f...

The paper analyzes an economy with an agrarian and an industrial sector. Demand is determined by Engel's Law. Population growth follows a non{linear income dependent path according to the theory of demographic transition. In case of decreasing returns to scale in the agrarian sector the existence of a stable low{income equilibrium with high population growth can be shown. If this equilibrium is...

In the 1970s, the global environmental changed and economic structural troubles brought major economies problems such as the economic stagnation, inflation, financial burden, budget imbalance, low productive efficiency, slow structural adjustment etc., which the Keynesian demand management could no longer handle. Since the late 1970s, with new leaders such as Thatcher, Reagan and Cole, those ma...

Decoupling economic growth from emissions of green-house gases is a major challenge for global sustainability. This relationship, mediated by product composition and the state of technology, is however a complex one. In this paper we examine critically the notion of an Environmental Kuznets curve relating economic growth and emissions, and assess the role of technical change operating at lower ...

India is home to one-third of the world’s undernourished children, with rates of child undernutrition remaining stubbornly high for decades. Undernutrition is widespread among adults, too; one-third of all Indian men and women are affected. At the same time, India is the second-fastest-growing economy in the world. Its economic growth, however, has been far less “pro-poor” than growth in other ...

In any empirical analysis of cross country economic performance it is easy to find a few episodes of fast growth, as well as many instances of economic stagnation. A major challenge for economic theory is to identify what are the driving forces behind the successes and failures. Ultimately, the objective of the theory is to come up with a recipe that a country can use to produce ∗We thank NSF f...