Two sector growth models, with physical goods and human capital produced under distinct technologies, generally consider a process of knowledge obsolescence / depreciation that is similar to the depreciation process of physical goods. As a consequence, the long term rate of per capita growth of the main economic aggregates is constant over time. This rate can be endogenously determined (in endogenous growth models, where production is subject to constant returns) or it can be the result of exogenous forces, like technological progress or population dynamics (in neoclassical growth theory, where decreasing marginal returns prevail). In this paper, we introduce a new assumption about the generation of knowledge, which involves entropy, i.e., introducing additional knowledge to generate more knowledge becomes counterproductive after a given point. The new assumption is explored in scenarios of neoclassical and endogenous growth and it is able to justify endogenous fluctuations. Entropy in the creation of knowledge will imply that human capital does not grow steadily over time. Instead, cycles of various periodicities are observable for different degrees of entropy. Complete a-periodicity (chaos) is also found for particular values of an entropy parameter. This behaviour of the human capital variable spreads to the whole economy given that this input is used in the production of final goods and, thus, main economic aggregates time paths (i.e., the time paths of physical capital, consumption and output) will also evolve following a cyclical pattern. With this argument, we intend to give support to the view of endogenous business cycles in the growth process, which is alternative to the two mainstream views on business cycles: the RBC theory and the Keynesian interpretation.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number
2843.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
repec:cup:macdyn:v:6:y:2002:i:5:p:633-64 is not listed on IDEAS
Did you know? You can include your works in the database easily by uploading them on the Munich Personal RePEc Archive (MPRA) if you do not have access to an institutional RePEc archive.