Growth, Trade and Economic Institutions

Endogenous growth is examined from the viewpoint of economic history, institutions, international trade and political economy. The variance in institutional quality can be explained by historical differences in biogeographical potential for early agriculture. The expansion of output can lead to dis-agglomeration. Economies integrate, if the productivity of R&D do not vary too much for them. There are cycles, in which research people switch back and forth between applied and basic R&D. When one of the sectors is capital intensive, the balanced-growth path can exhibit local indeterminacy. The patterns of growth are sensitive to technology parameters of the capital good industry. Among the other aspects examined are the growth effects of tax competition, the political economy of employment protection, the equilibrium in a dynamic multi-sector economy and the dependence of growth on relative wages, employment and the firm size.