IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dar/wpaper/55883.html

‘Love of Wealth’ and Economic Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Rehme, Günther

Abstract

This paper complements research on how {\em love of wealth} bears on key variables in a Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans growth framework. It is shown that for an optimum the social planner cannot have an excessive {\em love of wealth}. If the planner has the `right' {\em love of wealth} an optimum exists and implies higher long-run per capita capital, income and consumption relative to the standard optimal growth model. The optimum implies dynamic efficiency with the possibility to get arbitrarily close to the Golden Rule where long-run per capita consumption is maximal. It is shown that the optimal path is attaining its steady state more slowly. Thus, the beneficial effects of {\em love of wealth} materialize later than in the standard model. Furthermore, the economy can be decentralized as a competitive private ownership economy. One can then identify {\em love of wealth} with the ``spirit of capitalism''. The paper, hence, implies that one needs a 'right' level of the ``spirit of capitalism'' to realize any beneficial effects for the long run.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Rehme, Günther, 2011. "‘Love of Wealth’ and Economic Growth," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 55883, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    • Handle: RePEc:dar:wpaper:55883
    Note: for complete metadata visit http://tubiblio.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/55883/
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/84872/1/681260254.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    2. Ben R. Craig & William E. Jackson & James B. Thomson, 2004. "On SBA-guaranteed lending and economic growth," Working Papers (Old Series) 0403, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    3. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "The Utility of Wealth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(2), pages 151-151.
    4. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    5. David Cass, 1965. "Optimum Growth in an Aggregative Model of Capital Accumulation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 32(3), pages 233-240.
    6. Giacomo Corneo & Olivier Jeanne, 2001. "Status, the Distribution of Wealth, and Growth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(2), pages 283-293, June.
    7. Zou, Heng-fu, 1994. "'The spirit of capitalism' and long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 279-293, July.
    8. Bakshi, Gurdip S & Chen, Zhiwu, 1996. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Stock-Market Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 133-157, March.
    9. Günther Rehme, 2017. "“Love of wealth” and economic growth," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1305-1326, November.
    10. Louis Kaplow, 2009. "Utility from Accumulation," NBER Working Papers 15595, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Corneo, Giacomo & Jeanne, Olivier, 1997. "On relative wealth effects and the optimality of growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 87-92, January.
    12. Franz Wirl, 1994. "The ramsey model revisited: The optimality of cyclical consumption and growth," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 81-98, February.
    13. repec:bla:scandj:v:103:y:2001:i:2:p:283-93 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Michael Kumhof & Romain Rancière & Pablo Winant, 2015. "Inequality, Leverage, and Crises," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1217-1245, March.
    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. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Shiro Kuwahara, 2018. "When is the Spirit of Capitalism Effective for Economic Development?," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(3), pages 70-82, March.
    3. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2024. "Consumption, Wealth, Frugality, and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 25(1), pages 31-61, May.
    4. Günther Rehme, 2017. "“Love of wealth” and economic growth," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1305-1326, November.
    5. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2021. "Generalized Cumulative Offer Processes," Discussion Papers 21/08, Department of Economics, University of York.
    6. Rehme, Günther, 2018. "On ‘Rusting’ Money Silvio Gesell’s Schwundgeld Reconsidered," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 106303, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).

    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. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2024. "Consumption, Wealth, Frugality, and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 25(1), pages 31-61, May.
    2. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2021. "Generalized Cumulative Offer Processes," Discussion Papers 21/08, Department of Economics, University of York.
    3. Wang, Gaowang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2025. "Romer Meets Weber-Schumpeter: The Spirit of Capitalism, Entrepreneurial Drive and Long-Run Growth," MPRA Paper 126518, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Corneo, Giacomo & Jeanne, Olivier, 2001. "On relative-wealth effects and long-run growth," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 349-358, December.
    5. Kontogiannis, Nikolaos & Litina, Anastasia & Varvarigos, Dimitrios, 2019. "Occupation-induced status, social norms, and economic growth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 348-360.
    6. Chen, Hung-Ju, 2011. "Social status and long-run effects of monetary policy in a two-sector monetary economy of endogenous growth," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 71-79, January.
    7. Chen, Hung- Ju, 2011. "Social status, human capital formation and super-neutrality in a two-sector monetary economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 785-794, May.
    8. Fisher, Walter H. & Hof, Franz X., 2005. "Status seeking in the small open economy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 209-232, June.
    9. Dimitrios Varvarigos & Nikolaos Kontogiannis, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Status, Social Norms, and Economic Growth," Discussion Papers in Economics 17/05, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    10. Hung-Ju Chen, 2012. "Social status, human capital formation and the long-run effects of money," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 105(3), pages 225-246, April.
    11. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:15:y:2002:i:10:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Hao Li & Gaowang Wang & Jun Yu, 2025. "Revisiting Optimal Capital Taxation with the Spirit of Capitalism," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 26(2), pages 501-524, November.
    13. Hung‐Ju Chen & Jang‐Ting Guo, 2009. "Social Status And The Growth Effect Of Money," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 133-141, March.
    14. Ono, Y., 2001. "Growth or Stagnation: Economic Consequences of Status Preference," ISER Discussion Paper 0524, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    15. Dimitrios Paparas & Christian Richter, 2015. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: Empirical evidence from the European Union," Working Papers 2015.06, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    16. Krawczyk, Jacek B. & Shimomura, Koji, 2003. "Why countries with the same technology and preferences can have different growth rates," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(10), pages 1899-1916, August.
    17. Dimitrios PAPARAS & Christian RICHTER & Alexandros PAPARAS, 2015. "Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth, Empirical Evidence in European Union," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 239-268, December.
    18. Daniel Oto Peralías & Daniel Oto-Peralías & Diego Romero-Ávila, 2012. "Tracing the Link between Government Size and Growth: The Role of Public Sector Quality," EcoMod2012 4015, EcoMod.
    19. Michau, Jean-Baptiste & Ono, Yoshiyasu & Schlegl, Matthias, 2023. "Wealth preference and rational bubbles," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    20. Wen‐Ya Chang & Ying‐An Chen & Ming‐Ruey Kao, 2008. "Social Status, Education And Government Spending In A Two‐Sector Model Of Endogenous Growth," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 99-112, March.
    21. Yulei Luo & Jun Nie & Heng-fu Zou, 2021. "Wealth in the Utility Function and Consumption Inequality," Research Working Paper RWP 21-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • P40 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - General
    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General

    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:dar:wpaper:55883. 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: Dekanatssekretariat (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ivthdde.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.