Economic development

To encourage mining and manufacturing industries : speech of Sen. J. Hoge Tyler, of Pulaski, delivered in the Senate of Virginia on Friday, February 1st, 1878.

Using both exogenous and endogenous theory, this paper develops a synthesized model treating human capital as an endogenous contributor to long run economic growth. Human capital is assumed to be the basis of such growth, therefore, the focus is not on technological change per se. Through empirical analysis, human capital is measured by knowledge, and that the accumulation of knowledge, or specialization, is determined through an incentive system. The incentive system, in turn, is determined by the difference in wages paid to certain types of knowledge, those being a general level and a specialized level of knowledge. It is assumed that the learning process can take place at any time, therefore, the specialization process is not limited to an academic environment. A spillover effect associated with specialized knowledge provides for increasing returns to scale in the model, which is also supported by empirical data.

This thesis presents a theoretical behavioral model that deals with the expansionary phase of the business cycle. Its purpose was to provide a plausible explanation for growth out of recession. In this model, expansionary output is directly related to investment, saving, and the expected returns to capital. Moreover, it is assumed that capital formation is inversely related to the interest rate, which serves as the independent variable with respect to investment, production, saving, and expected returns. In addition, the basic model is linked to the combined influence of fiscal and monetary policy through the use of a coefficient. This coefficient can alter the fundamental dynamic of the growth path. Finally, the four basic non-linear curves that compose the behavioral model are compared to curves suggested by scatter diagrams. In conclusion, there seems to be some conformity of statistical reality to the non-linear relationships described by the behavioral model, as well as general agreement with a large body of existent theory.

In recent years it is widely believed that an increase in economic activity determined by market forces, contributes to higher productivity, faster economic growth, and lower budget deficits. Developing countries, in particular, are attempting to increase the share of the private sector in their economies in order to accelerate the process of development. This thesis describes the concept of privatization and alternative models of the privatization process. A cross-section of forty-nine countries is utilized to empirically assess the impact of privatization on economic growth.

By now, a vast literature has attempted to answer the question of whether democracy is conducive to economic growth. The empirical side of the literature has not come to any consensus on this issue. My thesis examines Argentina's economic and political history from 1960 to the present, including particularly volatile episodes with many military regimes. Specifically, I attempt to contribute to the democracy-growth literature by examining whether Argentina's level of democracy affected its economic growth. Controlling for a number of factors, I construct an econometric model that focuses on GDP as the dependent variable and democracy as the independent variable of interest. I claim that there is no correlation between Argentina's economic growth and its level of democracy.

The purpose of this paper is to break through the complexity of the NAFTA negotiations in order to reveal some of the contentious issues from three stages of the NAFTA bargaining process: the fast track agreement, the negotiations under President Bush, Sr., and the side payments under President Clinton. Putnam's two-level game theory will help describe how the interests of business, environmental groups, and labor unions influenced the outcome of the NAFTA through their respective win-sets, domestic and international power relations, and side agreements. Extrapolating from Putnam's model and the success in NAFTA bargaining, we can predict that the ongoing Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations are more likely to succeed if international representatives strategize to create favorable conditions for domestic ratification through understanding the domestic constituencies and win-sets of the players.