Descripción

The importance of economic growth cannot be overstated. Income growth is essential for achieving economic, social, and even political development. In recent years, an enormous amount of talent and effort has been invested in understanding the process of economic growth, making it one of the most dynamic fields in economic analysis.

The collection of studies included in this volume contributes to the growth literature on two dimensions. First, it provides a systematic account of the characteristics surrounding economic growth as it occurs in industrial and, particularly, developing countries. Some of the essays revisit the question of what drives long-run economic growth, while others analyze the consequences that growth has on various aspects of development and welfare. These studies share a concern for identifying the most efficient policies to promote or facilitate growth. They thus critically analyze a broad spectrum of policies, including financial development, public infrastructure, regulatory framework, and direct government intervention in industrial policies. The second contribution of this volume is to address new and potentially crucial questions on the intricate relationship between economic growth and cyclical fluctuations. In this regard, the volume presents essays that deal with the issue of distinguishing changes in long-run trends from persistent cyclical fluctuations, others that provide analytical models or statistical techniques for examining the effect of business cycles on long-run growth, and still others that discuss the macroeconomic policies that lead to growth recovery from negative shocks.

Taken as a whole, this volume examines the process of economic growth from a developing country perspective that emphasizes policy implications for the sources of recovery and long-run performance.

Editado por Norman Loayza & Raimundo Soto.

Comentarios

"The economics of growth and development has arguably become the main inquiry of research economists and policy makers in the last 20 years. This book written by authors that have already made important contributions to this field, provides a very claer and provocative view on the process of economic growth. The consequences of growth on development, the nexus of cyclical fluctuations with long-run trends, and the relationship between public policy and economic growth are just three examples of the book's main ingredients."

Victor J. Elías, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina.

"An oustanding colletion of research articles by leading growth specialists on one of the most significant questions in economics - the sources of variations in growth rates across countries."

Oded Galor, Brown University

"This book is a remarkable colletion of articles written by leading economic growth researchers. It provides an up-to-date assessment of the state of the art in economic growth research, complemented with very interesting case studies of the Chilean experience."

Sergio Rebelo, Northwestern University