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How much do distortions affect growth?

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Author Info
Easterly, William
DEC

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Abstract

The author presents a simple endogenous growth model (with two types of capital) that shows the sizable long-run effects on growth of distortionary policies. The model applies to many different types of distortions of relative prices common in developing countries - for example, price controls, black market exchange rates, and differential taxes and tariffs. The model shows that distortions of relative input prices can greatly affect growth and welfare. The magnitude of the effect depends on the production elasticity of substitution. With high substitutability, the effects on growth and welfare, although possibly large, are bounded, no matter how high the rate of distortion. Subsidizing inputs and investment goods can increase growth, even though it worsens welfare. But a subsidy to one capital good financed by a tax on another capital good unambiguously reduces growth. Empirical results show strong negative effects from variance in the relative prices of investment goods across sectors, while also confirming and extending earlier results showing that penalizing investment goods and distorting financial markets reduce growth.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1215.

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Date of creation: 30 Nov 1993
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1215

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Related research
Keywords: Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Growth; Achieving Shared Growth; Inequality;

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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.:
  1. Kormendi, Roger C. & Meguire, Philip G., 1985. "Macroeconomic determinants of growth: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 141-163, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-37, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1990. "The Allocation of Talent: Implicationsfor Growth," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 65, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
    Other versions:
  4. King, Robert G & Rebelo, Sergio, 1990. "Public Policy and Economic Growth: Developing Neoclassical Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages S126-50, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Alwyn Young, 1991. "Learning by Doing and the Dynamic Effects of International Trade," NBER Working Papers 3577, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Young, Alwyn, 1991. "Learning by Doing and the Dynamic Effects of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(2), pages 369-405, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Mankiw, N Gregory & Romer, David & Weil, David N, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 407-37, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Sergio T. Rebelo, 1992. "Long Run Policy Analysis and Long Run Growth," NBER Working Papers 3325, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. King, Robert G. & Plosser, Charles I. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1988. "Production, growth and business cycles : I. The basic neoclassical model," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 195-232. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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