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Solow ( 1956 ) as a model of cross-country growth dynamics

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  • Kieran McQuinn
  • Karl Whelan

Abstract

Despite the widespread popularity of the Solow growth model, much of the recent empirical work based on the classic framework misrepresents a crucial feature of the model. Namely, the growth rate of technological progress, assumed to be exogenous in the Solow model, is often identified as being constant across countries. This simplification of the behaviour of technological progress runs counter to the evidence and has had a number of significant implications for the interpretation of the Solow model. One implication has been an overemphasis on the role of factor accumulation in explaining cross-country income differentials. In addition, the commonly-cited empirical result that the speed of conditional convergence is slower than predicted by the Solow model is a function of this inaccurate assumption about technology rather than due to a failure of the model itself.
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  • Kieran McQuinn & Karl Whelan, 2007. "Solow ( 1956 ) as a model of cross-country growth dynamics," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(1), pages 45-62, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:23:y:2007:i:1:p:45-62
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grm009
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kuikeu, Oscar, 2011. "Arguments contre la zone franc [Against the cfa franc zone]," MPRA Paper 33710, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2011. "Energy distribution and economic growth," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 782-797.
    4. Ding, Sai & Knight, John, 2009. "Can the augmented Solow model explain China's remarkable economic growth? A cross-country panel data analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 432-452, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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