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Using a sample of 272 meta-observations drawn from 48 primary studies, this paper conducts a meta-analysis of the empirical literature that examines the impact of military expenditure on economic growth. We find that existing studies indicate growth-retarding effects of military expenditure. The results from the meta-regression analysis suggest that the effect size estimate is strongly influenced by study variations. Specifically, we find that underlying theoretical models, econometric specifications, and data type as well as data period are relevant factors that explain the heterogeneity in the military expenditure-growth literature. Results also show that positive effects of military expenditure on growth are more pronounced for developed countries than less developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical change is a major driving force for economic growth and development, thus technological change and innovations could be a powerful process that opens up opportunities to increase social welfare and benefits for societies. Whether opportunities turn into real benefits and allow for broad participation depends on a number of factors. In this contribution we focus on three questions. First, what are the drivers of and the gains from technological change? Second, is there broad participation in the gains from technological change? Third, what mechanisms generate asymmetric participation or even non-participation? Reviewing the literature, we obtain two sets of answers, one set for developed countries (DCs) and one for less developed countries (LDCs). For DCs, technology is still the driving force for aggregate progress. Innovations are driven by a combination of private and public R&D investments and the diffusion of innovations is spurred by innovative competition. Due to various reasons - such as technical bias, educational attainment, new firm concepts, globalization and outsourcing, disempowerment of labor unions, decreasing labor share in aggregate income, or agglomeration effects - we identify major differences in participation in gains across different groups. Further, technology that originated in DCs is transferred to LDCs. We identify the channels of technological transfer that allow LDCs to potentially participate in the benefits. Here, the development of the modern sector with links to international value chains plays a major role. However, global diffusion of technology and its gains are very diverse. Reasons for this diverse participation in gains include power structures in global value chains combined with an excess supply of labor and the malfunctioning of local governments and institutions in LDCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance imposed on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is greater in developed economies than in emerging markets. The pressures from various stakeholder groups on the CSR are expected to have substantial spillover impact on companies domiciled in emerging economies that obtain revenues from companies in developed economies. Based on the data from 1,330 listed companies in China, the largest emerging economy in the world, this study provides evidence that the CSR performance of China firms is positively related to the degree of their internationalization, and such a positive association is less pronounced for state-owned enterprises. Our findings support the hypothesis that internationalized companies in emerging economies are motivated to improve their CSR practices to address concerns from their importers or outsourcers in developed economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes differences in price-role orientations between economically developed and emerging markets and how these differences influence store brand and store format preferences. It extends cross-national research on price-role orientations by (1) focusing on culturally similar but economically different countries, (2) relating differences to preferences for store brands and low-price store formats, and (3) analyzing these effects for functional versus hedonic and low- versus high-price product groups. Based on theories explaining the effects of income on individual price perception and behavior, we hypothesize cross-national differences in price and value consciousness, the price-quality schema, and prestige sensitivity. Furthermore, we present a theoretical link between these price-role orientations and store format preferences based on the ability of store formats to address different price roles. A survey conducted in Germany and Poland reveals several cross-national differences in price-role orientations and resulting preferences, which, however, depend on product group characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed at comparing the well-being of children across the most economically advanced countries of the world while discussing the methodological issues involved in comparing children's well-being across countries. A Child Well-being Index was constructed to rank countries according to their performance in advancing child well-being. The Index used 30 indicators combined into 13 components, again summarised in 5 dimensions for 29 rich countries. Data from various sources were combined to capture aspects of child well-being: material well-being, health, education, behaviour and risks, housing and environment. The scores for the countries on all variables and combinations of variables were discussed in detail. The Child Well-being Index revealed that the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries (excluding Denmark) did relatively better than the other countries while Romania and the United States performed well below the average. Overall, serious differences existed in child well-being across countries suggesting that in many, improvement could be made in the quality of children's lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the effect of formal political institutions (electoral systems, fiscal decentralization, presidential and parliamentary regimes) on the extent and direction of income (re-)distribution. Empirical evidence is presented for a large sample of 70 economies and a panel of 13 OECD countries between 1981 and 1998. The evidence indicates that presidential regimes are associated with a less equal distribution of disposable incomes, while electoral systems have no significant effects. Fiscal competition is associated with less income redistribution and a less equal distribution of disposable incomes, but also with a more equal primary income distribution. Our evidence also is in line with earlier empirical contributions that find a positive relationship between trade openness and equality in primary and disposable incomes, as well as the overall redistributive effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report evidence of a time-varying link between returns on national stock market indexes and exchange rate returns (exchange rate exposure). We use this evidence to analyze the sources of changes over time in exchange rate exposure. Using monthly data for 14 industrialized countries for the period 1975-2006, we report evidence of a cointegration relation between exchange rate exposure and the industry composition of a country's imports, and weaker evidence of a cointegration relation between exchange rate exposure and openness to trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

large literature explores the importance of entrepreneurship as the catalyst of economic progress. In contrast, this paper argues that entrepreneurs are the driver of economic stagnation. We analyze the non-productive entrepreneurial process and discuss three channels through which non-productive activities have a multiplier effect culminating in economic decline and stagnation. Drawing on examples of non-productive entrepreneurship from both underdeveloped and developed countries, we provide insight into why economic stagnation persists in the former and why economic decline can occur in the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One reason for the relatively poor development performance of many countries around the world today may be the high levels of inequality during and after colonisation. Evidence from colonies in the Americas suggests that skewed initial factor endowments could create small elites that own a disproportionate share of wealth, human capital and political power. The Cape Colony, founded in 1652 at the southern tip of Africa, presents a case where a mercantilist company (the Dutch East India Company) settled on the land and established a unique set of institutions, within which inequality evolved. This paper provides a long-run quantitative analysis of trends in asset-based inequality (using principal components analysis on tax inventories) during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, allowing, for the first time, a dynamic rather than static analysis of inequality trends in a newly settled and pre-industrial society over this period. While theory testing in other societies has been severely limited because of a scarcity of quantitative evidence, this study presents a history with evidence, enabling an evaluation of the Engerman--Sokoloff and other hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panel analysis of 21 industrial countries shows evidence for pro-cyclicality of capital gains on domestic stock markets over a medium term horizon. Thus, with cross-border ownership of portfolio equity investments, potential for hedging against domestic output fluctuations by means of the capital gains channel of foreign liabilities is found. Individual country analysis reveals substantial heterogeneity of cyclicality patterns. Evidence suggests that this cross-country variation can be explained by the level of economic development and the size of financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model in which the composition and size of public spending are determined through a political process. Agents differ in wage rates, and live in households positively sorted by wage; household production benefits both partners but the partners interact non-cooperatively, hence the laissez-faire equilibrium is inefficient. There are three policy tools, a labour income tax rate, a cash transfer and an in-kind transfer. The latter can be combined with household production to generate a household public good. All agents agree on some form of public intervention to remedy the inefficiency, but low-wagers prefer high taxes and cash transfers, while high-wagers prefer low taxes and in-kind provision. Under the empirically plausible assumption that voting participation is positively correlated with income, the equilibrium policy will be of the sort preferred by voters with above-mean income. This effect is accentuated by increased inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how imitation activities affect the technology gap between developing and developed countries using a North-South model in which the variety of goods is expanding over time. If imitation productivity is high enough, nonrivalrous ideas and inexpensive labor enables developing countries to reduce their technological backwardness by imitating products even if their initial level of technology is far behind the technology in developed countries. We also show that the rise of imitation productivity may benefit both developing and developed countries if they prefer a sufficient variety of goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a rebuttal of Easterlin (1995), Hagerty and Veenhoven (2003) analyze data for 21 countries and conclude that “growing national income does go with greater happiness.” But the U.S. experience does not support this conclusion, which they obtain only by mixing together two sets of noncomparable surverys. Moreover, the result of studies of European countries and the U.S. by other scholars do not support their claim either. Furthermore, the experience of 6 out of 7 of their non-European countries fail to support their claim. Finally, if countries in their analysis with quite similar growth rates are grouped, one finds quite disparate trends in happiness, suggesting that factors other than growth in income are responsible for the differential trends in happiness. Instead of straining to feed the illusion that a focus on economic growth will create happiness, an approach is needed that explores the impact on national trends in life satisfaction, not just of material goods, but also of family life, health, work utility, and the like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to provide an econometric analysis of the most important determinants of inter-country differences in waste paper recovery and utilization rates. By employing pooled time series and cross-section data over 49 countries worldwide and seven years, the paper concludes that relative waste paper recovery and use depend largely on long-standing economic factors such as population intensity and competitiveness in the world market for paper and board products. We also find evidence that supports the conjecture that rich countries tend to recover relatively more waste paper than is the case in low-income countries, reflecting the higher demand for waste management and environmental policies in more developed economies. As recovery and utilization rates are determined by economic and demographic characteristics the degree of policy flexibility in affecting these rates may be limited. In particular, an ambitious utilization rate target may be very costly to enforce as it can conflict with existing trade patterns of paper and board products as well as with other environmental goals. Additional policy targets may therefore be desirable, especially since paper recycling is motivated primarily by environmental concerns and seldom is a benign activity in itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an abridged version of the evaluation of the economic situation by the members of the Association of German Economic Research Institutes, Hamburg, Germany. In the spring of 2003, the world economy is finding itself pressured by great uncertainty. The escalation of the Iraq conflict came at a time during which world economic recovery was progressing sluggishly at best. The recovery of the world economy, which had been signalled during the first half of 2002, did not materialise, not least due to uncertainty. In virtually all of the industrialised countries, the increase in production fell after the summer of 2002. The worldwide deterioration of the conditions for growth is due to a number of factors, which are continuing to exert effects. Investor and consumer confidence in world political stability has fallen since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001; the fear of further attacks implies higher spending on security, which reduces company profitability and puts pressure on economic activity. Air transport and tourism, in particular, are in crisis as a result of the worsened global security situation. Furthermore, share prices collapsed across the board, also largely due to financing scandals in major companies.

This paper applies the inframarginal analysis, which is a combination of marginal and total cost-benefit analysis, to investigate the relationship between division of labor, the extent of the market, productivity and inequality of income distribution. The model with transaction costs and exogenous and endogenous comparative advantages shows that as trading efficiency is improved the general equilibrium discontinuously jumps from autarky to partial division of labor with a dual structure, then to the complete division of labor where dual structure disappears. In this process different groups of individuals with different trading efficiency become involved in a certain level of division of labor at different stages of development. As the leading group becomes involved in a higher level of division of labor leaving others behind, a dual structure emerges and inequality increases. As latecomers catch up dual structure disappears and inequality declines. When the leader goes to an even higher level of specialization, dual structure occurs and inequality increases again. Inequality decreases again as the latecomers catch up. Hence, the equilibrium degree of inequality fluctuates in this development process. The relationship between inequality and productivity is neither monotonically positive nor monotonically negative. It might not be an inverted U-curve. The key driving force of economic development and trade is improvement in trading efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study how the choice of environmental standards by governments is affected by the existence of wage incomes when firms locations are endogenous. In developed countries labor is unionized, which allows positive wage incomes to arise. Thus, each government has incentives to persuade firms to locate in its country since social welfare depends on such incomes. But, as pollution damages the environment, each government will only try to attract polluting firms to the country, to obtain the wage incomes, when the valuation of environmental damage shows that it is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the volatility of output growth and the average growth rate of output in developed economies using the Generalized AutoRegressive Conditional Hetereoskedasticity-in-mean (GARCHM) framework. The results indicate that that volatility is correlated with output growth for half of the countries and that the correlation is negative for some countries and positive for others. This finding is consistent with models that suggest country characteristics are important for determining the growth-volatility relationship. However, the estimated correlation between volatility and the average growth rate is sensitive to the specification of the conditional variance equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes uncovered interest parity using daily data for developing and developed countries in the 1990s. Slope coefficient from regression of exchange rate; Depreciation of exchange rate.

I examine the role of government in the growth of 64 industrialized and developing countries, considering both expenditure and financing aspects of government. Recognizing that there may be differences between the two country groups, I estimate both standard OLS and dummy variable regressions. The general conclusion is that although most fiscal variables are not significantly related to economic growth, the means of financing matters more than government spending. I find that seigniorage and the budget surplus are important for growth, but the LDCs is the group that drive the results in all regressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the possibility of reduction in the gap in economic development between developed and underdeveloped countries. Overview of Pearson Report of 1969; Comparison of the per capita gross national product of the U.S. with that of India and Brazil; Factors that challenge the reduction in the development gap.

The author reflects on orthopedic services and training dilemmas in developing countries including India. According to the author, early diagnosis and prompt treatments of orthopedic ailments are possible in developed countries due to the well-organized health services. He mentions that developing countries do not have enough financial resources for proper treatment. He cites that people should prepare themselves to take on the role of a leader in orthopedics in developing countries.

In this article, the author discusses the economic conditions and economic growth in developed countries. The author says that the idea of steady economies of state or economic degrowth in developed countries gains interest. He stresses that the process on how to develop the economy to feed the nine billion people became a central question in the middle century. He also argues that developed countries should live in a fair share.

Presents three abstracts of articles published in Spring 1999 in the "Journal of Chinese Political Science." "Regional Differences and Sustainable Development in China," by Joseph Yu-shek Cheng and Mujin Zhang; "Rethinking Economic Openness and Macro Control in Developing Countries," by Yunhua Liu; "Chinese Considerations of Economic Security," by Daojiong Zha.