IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctl/louvir/1996024.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic development and convergence clubs: the role of inherited tastes and human capital

Author

Listed:
  • de la Croix, David

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) ; Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS))

Abstract

We present an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth in which children inherit from the previous generation human capital and life standard aspirations. Adults evaluate their own consumption with respect to a baseline requirement which depends on their parents past consumption. The presence of bequeathed tastes changes significantly the dynamic properties of the model. First, starting with too high aspirations or with too low education spendings lead the economy to a poverty trap. Second, the economy can be characterized by oscillations because inherit human capital may not be sufficient to cover the bequest in terms of higher aspirations. Third, the endogenous growth steady state can be surrounded by a repelling cycle which delimits an attraction basin.

Suggested Citation

  • de la Croix, David, 1996. "Economic development and convergence clubs: the role of inherited tastes and human capital," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 1996024, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 00 Oct 1996.
    • Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:1996024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/9624.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nehru, Vikram & Swanson, Eric & Dubey, Ashutosh, 1995. "A new database on human capital stock in developing and industrial countries: Sources, methodology, and results," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 379-401, April.
    2. Abel, Andrew B, 1990. "Asset Prices under Habit Formation and Catching Up with the Joneses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 38-42, May.
    3. Easterly, William & Kremer, Michael & Pritchett, Lant & Summers, Lawrence H., 1993. "Good policy or good luck?: Country growth performance and temporary shocks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 459-483, December.
    4. Croix, David de la & Michel, Philippe, 1999. "Optimal growth when tastes are inherited," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 519-537, February.
    5. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1993. "Making a Miracle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(2), pages 251-272, March.
    6. Hercowitz, Zvi & Sampson, Michael, 1991. "Output Growth, the Real Wage, and Employment Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1215-1237, December.
    7. Philippe Monfort & David de la Croix, 2000. "Education funding and regional convergence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(3), pages 403-424.
    8. Galor, Oded, 1996. "Convergence? Inferences from Theoretical Models," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 1056-1069, July.
    9. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    10. Easterlin, Richard A, 1971. "Does Human Fertility Adjust to the Environment?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(2), pages 399-407, May.
    11. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    12. Solomou, Solomos, 1986. "Non-Balanced Growth and Kondratieff Waves in the World Economy, 1850–1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 165-169, March.
    13. Benhabib, Jess & Gali, Jordi, 1995. "On growth and indeterminacy: some theory and evidence," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 163-211, December.
    14. de la Croix, David, 1996. "The dynamics of bequeathed tastes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 89-96, October.
    15. Alex Michalos, 1980. "Satisfaction and happiness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 385-422, December.
    16. van Ewijk, Casper, 1982. "A Spectral Analysis of the Kondratieff-Cycle," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 468-499.
    17. Costas Azariadis & Allan Drazen, 1990. "Threshold Externalities in Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 105(2), pages 501-526.
    18. Becker, Gary S, 1992. "Habits, Addictions, and Traditions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 327-345.
    19. de la Croix, David & Michel, Philippe, 1997. "Altruism and self-refrain," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 1998010, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 00 Apr 1998.
    20. David De La Croix & Jean-Pierre Urbain, 1998. "Intertemporal substitution in import demand and habit formation," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(6), pages 589-612.
    21. de la Croix, David, 1998. "Growth and the relativity of satisfaction," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 105-125, September.
    22. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June.
    23. Quah, Danny T., 1996. "Empirics for economic growth and convergence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1353-1375, June.
    24. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    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. Rillaers, Alexandra, 1998. "Growth and Human Capital Accumulation under Uncertainty," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 1998020, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    2. Jordi Caballé & Ana I. Moro Egido, 2008. "The Effect of Aspirations, Habits, and Social Security on the Distribution of Wealth," ThE Papers 08/02, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    3. Luca Gori & Mauro Sodini, 2014. "Indeterminacy and nonlinear dynamics in an OLG growth model with endogenous labour supply and inherited tastes," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 37(1), pages 159-179, April.
    4. Rosenblatt-Wisch, Rina, 2008. "Loss aversion in aggregate macroeconomic time series," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 1140-1159, October.
    5. Marconi, G. & de Grip, A., 2014. "Education and growth with learning by doing," ROA Research Memorandum 010, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    6. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2018. "Endogenous constraints, coefficients of economic distance, and economic performance of African countries – An exploratory essay," MPRA Paper 90065, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Lionel Artige & Carmen Camacho & David De La Croix, 2004. "Wealth Breeds Decline: Reversals of Leadership and Consumption Habits," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 423-449, December.
    8. Dimitris K. Christopoulos & Efthymios G. Tsionas, 2007. "Are Regional Incomes in the USA Converging? A Non-linear Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 525-530.
    9. Chakraborty, Kamalika & Chakraborty, Bidisha, 2018. "Endogenous Altruism, Learning by Doing Effect and Impact of Domestic Policies on Child Labour," MPRA Paper 89229, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. repec:spr:decfin:v:41:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10203-018-0221-4 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Michael Neugart & Jan Tuinstra, 2003. "Endogenous fluctuations in the demand for education," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 29-51, February.
    12. Lyons, Sean & Mayor, Karen & Tol, Richard S.J., 2009. "Convergence of consumption patterns during macroeconomic transition: A model of demand in Ireland and the OECD," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 702-714, May.
    13. Holger Strulik, 2015. "How Status Concerns Can Make Us Rich and Happy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82, pages 1217-1240, December.
    14. repec:kap:jeczfn:v:122:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s00712-017-0537-5 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Liam C. Malloy, 2015. "Loss aversion, education, and intergenerational mobility," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 318-337, June.
    16. D Varvarigos, 2004. "Non-neutrality and Uncertainty in a Model of Growth," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 41, Economics, The Univeristy of Manchester.
    17. Toni Mora, 2005. "Conditioning factors on regional European clubs - a distributional approach," ERSA conference papers ersa05p302, European Regional Science Association.
    18. repec:eee:ecmode:v:68:y:2018:i:c:p:425-434 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jordi Caballé & Ana I. Moro-Egido, 2015. "On the Accumulation of Wealth under Aspirations," Working Papers 826, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    endogenous growth; human capital; aspirations; poverty trap; limit cycle;

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    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:ctl:louvir:1996024. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Virginie LEBLANC). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/iruclbe.html .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.