IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/chb/bcchwp/168.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Quantity and Quality of Economic Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Robert J. Barro

Abstract

Most cross-country studies of economic performance have focused on narrow economic variables. The present study emphasizes instead some quality dimensions of economic development, including health, fertility, income distribution, political institutions, crime, and religion. The data reveal a regular pattern in which economic development goes along with higher life expectancy and reduced fertility. Improvements in the standard of living are also associated with expansions of democracy, increased maintenance of the rule of law, and reductions in official corruption. Despite the presence of a Kuznets curve, little of the variations in income inequality are explained by the overall level of economic development. Crime rates, proxied by murder rates, also bear little relation with the level of development but are more closely associated with income inequality. Finally, there is some support for the secularization hypothesis, in that economic development is typically accompanied by lower levels of church attendance and religious beliefs. However, religiosity is positively related to education, holding fixed other indicators of economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert J. Barro, 2002. "Quantity and Quality of Economic Growth," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 168, Central Bank of Chile.
    • Handle: RePEc:chb:bcchwp:168
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bcentral.cl/documents/33528/133326/DTBC_168.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    2. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    3. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "What causes violent crime?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1323-1357, July.
    4. Mark Chaves & David E. Cann, 1992. "Regulation, Pluralism, and Religious Market Structure," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(3), pages 272-290, July.
    5. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    6. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    7. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1991. "The Consequences of Religious Market Structure," Rationality and Society, , vol. 3(2), pages 156-177, April.
    8. Robert Summers & Alan Heston, 1991. "The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 1950–1988," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 327-368.
    9. Easterly, William, 1999. "Life during Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 239-276, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xin Fang & Yun Cao, 2023. "Spatial Association Network Evolution and Variance Decomposition of Economic Sustainability Development Efficiency in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Jitender Singh, 2016. "Quality of Public Goods, Public Policy and Human Development: A State-wise Analysis," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 10(2), pages 215-235, August.
    3. Rui Cao & Yanling Xiao & Fengxue Yin, 2023. "Spatio-Temporal Evolution of High-Quality Development and the Impact of Carbon Emissions Trading Schemes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    4. Xiaohao Ding & Yifan Huang & Wenjuan Gao & Weifang Min, 2021. "A Comparative Study of the Impacts of Human Capital and Physical Capital on Building Sustainable Economies at Different Stages of Economic Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Tonghui Yu & Xuan Huang & Shanshan Jia & Xufeng Cui, 2023. "Unveiling the Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Key Drivers for Urban Green High-Quality Development: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Five Major Urban Agglomerations," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, October.
    6. Lyubimov, Ivan, 2016. "Corrupt bureaucrats, bad managers, and the slow race between education and technology," BOFIT Discussion Papers 12/2016, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    7. Peng, Dan & Ji, Y. & Kong, Qunxi, 2023. "OFDI and firms' sustainable productive capacity: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 641-652.
    8. Norman Loayza & Pablo Fajnzylber & César Calderón, 2005. "Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean : Stylized Facts, Explanations, and Forecasts," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7315, December.
    9. repec:zbw:bofitp:2016_012 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Xin Du & Hengming Zhang & Yawen Han, 2022. "How Does New Infrastructure Investment Affect Economic Growth Quality? Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-30, March.
    11. Tugcu, Can Tansel, 2014. "Tourism and economic growth nexus revisited: A panel causality analysis for the case of the Mediterranean Region," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 207-212.
    12. Lyubimov, Ivan, 2016. "Corrupt bureaucrats, bad managers, and the slow race between education and technology," BOFIT Discussion Papers 12/2016, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    13. Fabrizio Carmignani, 2007. "Efficiency of Institutions, Political Stability and Income Dynamics," The IUP Journal of Managerial Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(1), pages 6-30, February.
    14. Vishal Jaunky, 2013. "Democracy and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: a panel data approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 987-1008, October.
    15. Yu Ma & Meng Shang & Fen Yang & Chenguang Li, 2023. "Exploration of the Role of Human Capital in China’s High-Quality Economic Development and Analysis of Its Spatial Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Kun Chen & Yinrong Chen & Min Liu & Yi Chen, 2023. "Research on the Spatio-Temporal Characteristics and Influence Path of High-Quality Economic Development from the Perspective of Urban Land Transfer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Masagus M. Ridhwan & Peter Nijkamp & Affandi Ismail & Luthfi M.Irsyad, 2022. "The effect of health on economic growth: a meta-regression analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(6), pages 3211-3251, December.
    18. Rong Wang & Fayuan Wang, 2022. "Exploring the Role of Green Finance and Energy Development towards High-Quality Economic Development: Application of Spatial Durbin Model and Intermediary Effect Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.
    19. Bogojević, A. & Balaž, A. & Karapandža, R., 2008. "Consequences of increased longevity for wealth, fertility, and population growth," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(2), pages 543-550.
    20. Kong, Qunxi & Guo, Rui & Wang, Yang & Sui, Xiuping & Zhou, Shimin, 2020. "Home-country environment and firms’ outward foreign direct investment decision: Evidence from Chinese firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 390-399.
    21. Xu, Guangyue & Dong, Haoyun & Xu, Zhenci & Bhattarai, Nishan, 2022. "China can reach carbon neutrality before 2050 by improving economic development quality," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    22. Mazmira Adan & Saiful Izzuan Hussain & Humaida Banu Samsudin, 2020. "Understanding the Economic Linkages among Small and Medium Enterprises, Economic Growth, and Employees in Malaysia," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(11), pages 1309-1320, November.
    23. Shaofeng Ru & Jiaqi Liu & Tonghui Wang & Guo Wei, 2020. "Provincial Quality of Economic Growth: Measurements and Influencing Factors for China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-16, February.
    24. Yi Zhang & Guangqiu Huang, 2023. "Identifying network structure characteristics and key factors for the co-evolution between high-quality industrial development and ecological environment," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6591-6625, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    2. Daniele Checchi & Cecilia García‐Peñalosa, 2010. "Labour Market Institutions and the Personal Distribution of Income in the OECD," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(307), pages 413-450, July.
    3. Norman Loayza & Pablo Fajnzylber & César Calderón, 2005. "Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean : Stylized Facts, Explanations, and Forecasts," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7315, December.
    4. Richard Bluhm & Adam Szirmai, 2011. "Institutions, Inequality and Growth: A review of theory and evidence on the institutional determinants of growth and inequality," Papers inwopa634, Innocenti Working Papers.
    5. Gravier-Rymaszewska, Joanna & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kochanowicz, Jacek, 2010. "Intra-provincial inequalities and economic growth in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 237-258, September.
    6. Frazer, Garth, 2006. "Inequality and development across and within countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1459-1481, September.
    7. Martin Baur, 2010. "Politics and Income Distribution," Chapters, in: Neri Salvadori (ed.), Institutional and Social Dynamics of Growth and Distribution, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Easterly, William, 2007. "Inequality does cause underdevelopment: Insights from a new instrument," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 755-776, November.
    9. Andrews Dan & Jencks Christopher & Leigh Andrew, 2011. "Do Rising Top Incomes Lift All Boats?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-45, January.
    10. McCleary, Rachel & Barro, Robert, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth across Countries," Scholarly Articles 3708464, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    11. Jakub Bartak & Łukasz Jabłoński, 2020. "Inequality and growth: What comes from the different inequality measures?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 185-212, April.
    12. Maier, Rolf, 2005. "External Debt and Pro-Poor Growth," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 23, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    13. Adelaide Duarte & Marta Simões, 2009. "Channels of transmission of inequality to growth: A survey of the theory and evidence from a Portuguese perspective," GEMF Working Papers 2009-07, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    14. Rolf Maier, 2005. "Exchange Rate Regimes and Pro-Poor Growth," International Finance 0504008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Bjørnskov, Christian, 2004. "Inequality, Tolerance, and Growth," Working Papers 04-8, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    16. Svedberg, Peter, 2003. "World Income Distribution: Which Way?," Seminar Papers 724, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
    17. Justina A.V. Fischer & Antonio Rodríguez Andrés, 2005. "Is Software Piracy a Middle Class Crime? Investigating the inequality-piracy channel," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-18, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    18. Robert MacCulloch & Silvia Pezzini, 2010. "The Roles of Freedom, Growth, and Religion in the Taste for Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 329-358, May.
    19. Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "Causality Between Per Capita Real GDP and Income Inequality in the U.S.: Evidence from a Wavelet Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 269-289, January.
    20. Cristiano Perugini & Gaetano Martino, 2008. "Income Inequality Within European Regions: Determinants And Effects On Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 54(3), pages 373-406, September.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:chb:bcchwp:168. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alvaro Castillo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bccgvcl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.