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Life-Cycle Saving, Bequests, and the Role of Population in R&D-based Growth

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  • Bharat Diwakar
  • Gilad Sorek

Abstract

This study shows how the two alternative saving motives, life-cycle consumption smoothing and parental bequests, determine the relation between population growth and R&D-based economic growth, i.e. the sign of the "weak scale-effect". We take a textbook R&D-based growth model of infinitely living agents with no weak-scale effect, and analyze it in an Overlapping Generations framework - with and without bequest saving-motive. We show how the different saving motives determine the relation between population growth and per-capita income growth, which proves to be ambiguous in general, and may also be non-monotonic. Hence, we conclude that the counterfactual weak-scale effect that is present in the second and third generations of R&D-based growth models of infinitely-living agents depends on their specific demographic structure, and thus is not inherent to R&D-based growth theory itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Bharat Diwakar & Gilad Sorek, 2016. "Life-Cycle Saving, Bequests, and the Role of Population in R&D-based Growth," Auburn Economics Working Paper Series auwp2016-05, Department of Economics, Auburn University.
    • Handle: RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2016-05
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D-based Growth; Weak Scale Effect; Overlapping Generations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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