This is a review article by Andrew Sharpe from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards of Angus Maddison's path-breaking new book, The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective. The article summarizes Maddison's key findings in a number of areas, with particular emphasis on his estimates of...

Labour productivity in the U.S. non-farm business sector grew two and a half per cent per year during the 1995-2005 period, nearly double its growth rate over the previous two decades. Services sector labour productivity (LP) and multifactor productivity (MFP) grew more rapidly and substantially...

Real gross domestic product (GDP) fails to account for the trading gains and losses that result from changes in the terms of trade and in the real exchange rate (the price of tradables relative to the price of nontradables). Canada has enjoyed vast improvements in its terms of trade over recent...

The paper investigates empirically the déterminants of per capita economic growth for a large sample of sub-saharan African countries during 1975-l992. It draws on the recent endogeous-growth methodology to study the factors behind differences in per capita growth rates accross these countries....

In March 2007, the EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts were publicly released. These accounts include measures of output growth, employment and skill creation, capital formation and multifactor productivity (MFP) at the industry level for European Union member states from 1970 onwards....

While Canada's economic record over the past decade or so is enviable, GDP per capita remains distinctly below US levels, reflecting a sizeable productivity gap. Among the impediments to faster growth are the taxation of capital and restrictive regulations in certain sectors. Canada's experience...

In France, the number of years of schooling is high, and so is spending on education. Over the past thirty years, spending per student has increased, in particular because of the growing importance of the secondary and tertiary levels. What, more generally, is the impact of education on the...

This paper extends the Solow-Swan growth model by incorporating environmental factors, applied specifically to Madagascar. The model simulates three scenarios: (1) a baseline scenario with low savings and high deforestation; (2) an economic reform scenario with increased savings but no...

Over the past four decades, developing countries have not been immune to international financial changes. Today, the destabilizing effects of financial liberalization are affecting even developed economies. This paper reviews the theoretical foundations and the different relationships between...

Empirical data show during the historical process of economic development profound structural changes in economy. One of the most important movements is from stages where the so-called tangible investments are predominant to those where intangible investments become predominant. Applying some...