The Impact of International Trade on Economic Growth

In this paper, we examine the studies, since Adam Smith, on the impact of commercial and technological aspects, resulting from international trade, on the physical accumulation and quality of productive factors. We remark that the theory of economic growth and the theory of international trade, during the ‘classic period’, constituted two inseparable branches of economics. In this epoch, it was believed that international trade has a positive effect on the economic growth. Later, during the ‘neoclassic period’, these two theories of the economic thought became autonomous relatively to each other. Consequently, the importance of international trade was neglected in the context of economic growth, especially until the 1960’s. Recently, with the introduction of models of endogenous growth, both theories have merged again. The modelling frameworks advanced by the new models, as well as the recent developments inside the international trade theory, has allowed us to obtain a better understanding of the relation between economic growth and international trade.economic growth, international trade, endogenous growth, comparative advantages, developed countries, less developed countries.

Non-scale endogenous growth effects of subsidies for exporters

We built a general equilibrium endogenous growth model in which final goods are produced either in the relatively skilled-labour intensive exports sector or in the relatively unskilled-labour intensive domestic sector. We show that, by affecting the technological-knowledge bias, subsidies explain the simultaneous rise in the exports sector, the skill wage premium and the economic growth rate. Then, we use a Portuguese longitudinal database (1996-2003) and implement a propensity score matching approach to shed light upon the causal nexus between production-related subsidies and exports. Our empirical results seem to prove the theoretical predictions: subsides generate the rise in the wage premium of exporters and the increase in the relative size of export sector, even if no impact of subsidies is found in the capacity of enhancing new exporters.Subsidies, Exports, Scale-invariant growth, Wages

Price-Channel Effects of North-South Trade on the Direction of Technological Knowledge and Wage Inequality

This paper develops a general equilibrium endogenous growth model that emphasizes the mechanisms, other than market size, through which trade-induced North-South technological knowledge diffusion influences the direction of technological progress and, thus, the path of intra and inter-country wage inequality. In contrast with the market-size effect, more common in previous literature on skill-biased technological change, the operation of the price channel, central to this paper, predicts an increasing high-skilled technological bias following openness, which is more in line with the recent trends observed in developed and developing countries.North-South trade; Technological knowledge diffusion; Direction of technological progress; Wage inequality.

Fiscal Federalism in the European Union: How Far Are We?

In this paper, we compare the present process of definition and implementation of fiscal policies in the European Union with the main conclusions of the “fiscal federalism” theory. This is done in order to draw possible lessons for future evolution, particularly taking into account the possibility of creating a European “Federation of Nation-States”, which we supported in a previous work. We argue that these main conclusions are easily compatible with the emergence of a largely decentralised “Federation”, but are still far distant from the present situation. In this context, we argue for several important lines of change in the short-run, namely an effective change in the process of coordinating fiscal policies and a credible reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, and in the medium-long-run, namely an important increase in the size of the European budget.Fiscal federalism, fiscal policy, European budget, fiscal discipline

“To Deficit or Not to Deficit”: Should European Fiscal Rules Differ Among Countries?

The creation of the European Monetary Union has led to a substantial increase in the discussion of the importance of fiscal discipline and adequate fiscal rules in such a monetary union. The “European” solution has been challenged by many authors and politicians: among the main questions discussed in recent years, we find the use of the same rules for different situations in Member-Countries, particularly in terms of economic dimension and economic level of development. We develop a model of a monetary union between two countries that may differ in economic dimension and in the level of development. By solving transitional dynamics towards the steady state through numerical computation, the model allows us to examine the impact of fiscal shocks that may lead to excessive deficits. Our results suggest that the implications of such deficits depend on whether they occur in the small and less developed country or in the big and more developed one. In this context, we argue that an excessive deficit should be temporarily allowed in the case of the small and less developed country, in order to improve economic convergence and wages within the union.Monetary Union; SGP; Excessive Deficits; Technological-Knowledge Gap; Numerical Computation.

Value of intangibles arising from R&D activities

This paper develops an empirical approach using econometric techniques for panel data which aims to contribute to the reduction/elimination of the deviation between the book and market value of firms. Based on 20 of the firms with the largest number of patents granted between 1996 and 2006, the results show that: (i) the increase in the return on equity following from an increase in the share of investment in R&D is greater in the long run; (ii) there is a positive relationship between the results (and the value of firms) and R&D activities; (iii) by updating the additional periodical results generated by investment in R&D, the present value of the intangible asset can be determined.R&D, Financial information, Value of intangibles, Market value, Panel Data

Technological-Knowledge Dynamics in Lab-Equipment Models of Quality Ladders

The Perpetual Inventory Model (PIM) assumes that, in each period, an arbitrary constant fraction of technological-knowledge stock is lost. By connecting the aggregate resource constraint with firms’ market value, we give a theoretical background to the PIM by showing that the technological-knowledge accumulation follows a dynamic process with an endogenous depreciation rate, which remains stable in steady state. Moreover, we relate different concepts of technological-knowledge used in the literature.endogenous growth, endogenous depreciation rate, Perpetual Inventory Model, technological-knowledge dynamics

The “New” Stability and Growth Pact: More Flexible, Less Stupid?

Since the beginning of the European single currency project, the adoption of fiscal binding rules, restraining the use of the single policy instrument left for national authorities, has been challenged by many authors and politicians. The discussion has been rekindled in recent years, following a period of economic recession or stagnation in several Member-Countries and some criticisms linking the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) to the general economic situation. Some of the questions raised by those who criticised the initial framework for fiscal discipline may have been taken into account in the recent revision of the SGP (March 2005), which followed the suspension of the Pact for Germany and France and eventually made the SGP more flexible and “less stupid”. In this paper, we evaluate the changes contained in the “new” SGP, by taking account of the properties for ideal fiscal rules put forward by Kopits and Symansky (1998) and comparing with some recently published studies on the same topic. The main result of our analysis points towards a clear increase in flexibility together with the probable emergence of new enforcement problems. In this context, an insufficient output in terms of fiscal discipline could arise, leading to the need for new improvements within the European framework for the definition and implementation of national fiscal policies.EMU, SGP, Fiscal Rules, Fiscal Discipline

Economic Growth, Ecological Technology and Public Intervention

Seminal works on growth theory had mainly focused on exogenous technological change, where a certain given path of technological change was considered. At the end of the 1980s, a new growth theory emerged allowing for the endogeneity of technological change, where economic agents can affect the pace of technological change and where technology is essentially interpreted as “knowledge”. The present paper aims to develop a simple endogenous growth model to study the effects of taxation on dirty intensive resources and the effects of subsidies on clean/ecological intensive resources. It also intends to analyse how exogenous environmental quality can affect the development of better quality (environmentally cleaner) inputs to production. For that, a dynamic general equilibrium growth model is considered based on the endogenous skill-biased technological change literature. It is shown that final-good sector bias is caused by the technological-knowledge bias, which is promoted by government intervention.economic growth, technological change, environment

A Growth Model for the Quadruple Helix Innovation Theory

We propose a theoretical growth model with which to frame analytically the Quadruple Helix Innovation Theory (QHIT). The aim is to emphasise the investment in innovation transmission mechanisms in terms of economic growth and productivity gains, in one-high-technology sector, by stressing the role played by the helices of the Quadruple Helix Innovation Model: Academia and Technological Infrastructures, Firms of Innovation, Government and Civil Society. In the existing literature, the relationship between the helices and respective impacts on economic growth does not appear clear. Results are fragile due to data weakness and the inexistence of a theoretical framework to specify the relationship between the helices. Hence our motivation for providing the QHIT with a theoretical growth model. Our intent is to model the importance of emerging, dynamically adaptive, and transdisciplinary knowledge and innovation ecosystems to economic growth. We find that higher economic growth rate is obtained as a result of an increase in synergies and complementarities between different productive units, or an increase in productive government expenditure.Economic Growth, Quadruple Helix Innovation Model, Innovation Ecosystems