Technological Progress and Population Growth: Do we have too few children?

Do we have too few children? We intend to address this question. In developed countries, the fertility rate has declined since WWII. This may cause a slowdown in the growth of GDP in developed countries. However, important factors for the well-being of individuals are per capita variables, like per capita growth and per capita consumption. In turn, the rate of technological progress determines the growth rates of per capita variables. If the population size is increasing, the labour inputs for R&D activity increase, and thus speed up technological progress. As individuals do not take account of this positive effect when deciding the number of their own children, the number of children may become smaller than the socially optimal number of children. However, an increase in the number of children reduces the assets any one child owns: that is, there is a capital dilution effect. This works in the opposite direction. We examine this issue using an endogenous growth model where the head of a dynastic family decides the number of children.Technological Progress, Fertility, R&D

A Non-Unitary Discount Rate Model

The standard economic model of intertemporal decision making assumes that a single discount rate applies equally to discount (dis)utility from all different sources. However, studies such as psychology and behavioral economics have provided evidence that people might discount (dis)utility from different sources at different rates. This paper develops a simple model where the agent discounts utility from consumption at a different rate from disutility of labor supply. We show that in our non-unitary discount rate model, the preferences of the agent are time-inconsistent. The source of the time inconsistency is the difference between relative impatience with consumption and labor supply. It is shown that the policy effects in our model are quite different from those in the standard model. For example, when the agent discounts utility from consumption at a higher rate than the disutility of labor supply, the Friedman rule (the zero nominal interest rate) is no longer optimal. We also make comparisons between our results and those obtained in a model with a time variable discount rate where the preferences are time-inconsistent. It is also shown that the policy effects in our model are quite different from those in a model with a time variable discount rate.Non unitary discount rate, Tax policies, Time-inconsistency, Friedman rule.

Environmental discounting in a small open economy with a renewable resource

We construct a small open economy model with a renewable resource. Households have an endogenous time preference rate that depends on the level of the renewable resource in the domestic economy. Although households know that the degree of own patience depends on its resource, we assume that households believe that they cannot control the motion of the aggregate renewable resource. This is because they think that their impact is negligible so that there exists an externality in the form of the patience of the households. Based on this framework, we analyze the dynamic character of the steady state and show that the equilibrium path may be indeterminate. We next examine the welfare effects of tax policies. Finally, we investigate socially optimal tax policies.Endogenous time preference rate; Indeterminacy; Renewable resources; Optimal tax policy

A Welfare Analysis of Global Patent Protection in a Model with Endogenous Innovation and Foreign Direct Investment

This paper constructs a North-South quality-ladder model in which foreign direct investment (FDI) is determined by the endogenous location choice of firms, and examines analytically how strengthening patent protection in the South affects welfare in the South. Strengthening patent protection increases the Southfs welfare by enhancing innovation and FDI, but it also allows the firms with patents to charge higher prices for their goods, which decreases welfare. However, the model shows that the former positive welfare effect outweighs the latter negative effect. Moreover, introducing the strictest form of patent protection in the South, that is, harmonizing patent protection in the South with that in the North, may maximize welfare in the South as well as in the North. Further, a similar result can also be obtained in a nonscale effect model.foreign direct investment, innovation, intellectual property rights protection, welfare analysis

Dynamic Analysis of Innovation and International Transfer of Technology through Licensing

This paper develops a quality-ladder type dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous innovation and technology licensing as a major source of international technology transfer in developing countries. Examining the dynamic characteristics of the model fully, we explore the short- and long-run effects of both an improvement in the probability of reaching a licensing agreement with a given effort and an increase in the license fee rate. The model shows that the former promotes innovation and technology transfers in both the long and short run, while the latter discourages them.Innovation; Licensing; Technology transfer

Welfare Analysis of Free Entry in a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model

This paper presents a welfare analysis of free entry equilibrium in dynamic general equilibrium environments with oligopolistic competition. First, we show that a marginal decrease in the number of firms at the free entry equilibrium improves social welfare. Second, we show that if a government can control the number of entrants intertemporally so as to maximize the level of social welfare, the number of entrants under free entry may be less than the second-best number of entrants. Capital accumulation plays an important role in determining whether excess entry occurs.Excess entry; Oligopolistic competition; Dynamic general equilibrium

Availability of Higher Education and Long-Term Economic Growth

This paper examines the economic growth effects of limited availability of higher education in a simple endogenous growth model with overlapping generations. With limited availability, the scarcity of human capital keeps its price high and distributes a larger share of the aggregate output to young households. Under certain conditions, it leads to greater aggregate savings in each period, thereby enabling the economy to grow faster than without any limitation. In such cases, an excessive expansion in the availability causes a temporary boom followed by a serious deficiency in investible funds, resulting in a substantial slowdown in economic growth.Endogenous Growth; Human Capital; Slowdown; Intergenerational Income Distribution.

Who Benefits from a Better Education Environment?

Using an overlapping generations model, this note shows that an improvement in the efficiency of human capital production decreases the net income of the young household while increasing that of the old. Without compensating redistribution, it deteriorates lifetime utilities of all generations except for the initial old households.human capital; intergenerational income distribution; overlapping generations.

Innovation, Licensing, and Imitation: The Effects of Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Industrial Policy

This paper examines the long-run effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and industrial policies on innovation and technology transfer using a North-South quality ladder model where licensing is the main mode of technology transfer to developing countries. We show that the governments of developing countries can promote innovation and technology transfer by strengthening IPR protection, which is enforced by restricting the imitation of products. Moreover, the results also imply that subsidies on the cost of license negotiation can promote innovation and technology transfer, whereas subsidies on the cost of R&D have no effect.Licensing; Imitation; Innovation; Intellectual property rights;