This paper, based on the Mattei Lecture that the author delivered at the 2025 Africa Growth and Opportunity–Research in Action Conference, argues that Africa can anchor a new model of growth—and bolster global resilience—by shifting from commodity dependence to value-added production and...

Indonesia’s services sector has emerged as a key driver of economic growth and employment. Services have also been the driving force of global trade and investment. Advances in technology are expected to further improve the tradability of services, creating new opportunities for Indonesia....

Because of convergence, initial income is an important explanatory variable in many growth regressions. Its omission can lead to misspecification bias that may seem to – but still does not – contradict the common albeit somewhat controversial empirical finding that natural resources, if not...

This paper provides a critical examination of the empirical basis of the output convergence debate in the light of recent developments in the analysis of dynamic heterogeneous panels with interactive effects. It shows that popular tools such as Barro's cross-country regressions and two-way fixed...

This paper makes the case for measuring economic activity in real time in a middle-income setting using indicators alternative to the standard System of National Accounts measure of gross domestic product (GDP). GDP remains indispensable, yet its limits as a welfare proxy are amplified where...

Does "full vertical alignment" - political congruence across national, state, and local tiers - drive economic development? Using a sharp regression discontinuity design based on close state elections in India, we estimate the causal effects of multilevel alignment on growth, inequality, and...

This paper studies the long-run effects of foreign tourism on local labor markets and economic development in advanced economies, using Italy as a case study. To isolate plausibly exogenous variation in tourist arrivals, I construct a shift-share measure that interacts changes in outbound...

This chapter presents a tractable framework for the study of technology adoption and diffusion in the context of economic development. Firms in countries behind the world technology frontier can rapidly adopt new techniques from the world frontier. Lower absorptive capacity (because of weak...

Sweden's economic growth in relation to developments in the rest of the world exhibits three distinct phases over the past 170 years. From 1890 to 1950, Sweden experienced faster growth than comparable countries. This period of liberalization was followed by a phase of lagging behind until...

The study examines economic growth and climate change when system competition between countries causes drastic changes in their climate policies. The world is divided into two groups of countries: one that implements strict climate policies and another that refrains from doing so due to concerns...

This paper examines the existence and extent to which the "Baumol cost disease" could have affected aggregate growth in Europe. This would arise if lower productivity sectors began to account for an increasing share of output which would then put downward pressure on the prospective growth rate...

Exploiting granular European innovation data and the introduction of nexus requirements to patent boxes, I find that tightening access to preferential tax treatment of innovation output reduces inventive activity. A stylized framework and firm-reported constraints both point to internal funding...

This article investigates the dynamic interrelationships between the shadow economy, inflation, and economic growth in 15 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the period 1991-2017. The study employs a simultaneous equations framework estimated through the Three-Stage...

This paper explores the economic consequences of (taxing) power fragmentation using both theory and data. We first formalize tax policy as the result of interministerial competition where the Minister of Finance ('Guardian') and the Minister of Mines ('Spender') have distinct objective...

We provide new evidence on the effects of fiscal consolidation measures on output, unemployment, income inequality and consumer price inflation. To identify causal impacts, we use a narrative-based instrumental variable strategy drawing on historical records of exogenous fiscal changes motivated...

This study provides sector-level insights to inform energy strategies consistent with SDG 7 and SDG 13. Drawing on a panel of 43 emerging and developing economies (1998-2020), we estimate a GMM panel vector autoregression (PVAR) linking foreign direct investment, sectoral GDP, energy demand, and...

This introduction grounds the middle-income (MI) trap by looking at the empirical realities of firms, sectors, national, and subnational institutions embedded in global value chains (GVCs). While MI-trap scholarship has shed light on macro-structural constraints, it often overlooks international...

In proposing industrial policies to promote development-enhancing upgrading, both the Middle-Income Trap (MIT) and Global Value Chain (GVC) literatures imply a "technocratic" approach that matches a given technical challenge to the right policy instrument. This paper suggests that, apart from...

Bridging together the Middle-Income Trap (MIT) literature with the Global Value Chains (GVCs) approach may provide a more fine-grained understanding of the middle-income (MI) countries' developmental dilemmas. While the former identifies the structural challenges these countries face, the latter...

In an era of fragmented global production and domestic decentralization, middle-income countries confront the complex challenge of industrial upgrading. While national governments remain central to industrial policy design and funding, upgrading unfolds through multi-level interactions between...

Since the 1980s, state capacity has been a major explanation for countries leaving the middle-income trap. However, this literature is unable to explain the failed experiences of countries with relatively high state capacity. This was the case of Chile after the unsuccessful enaction of a series...

This paper examines the role of insurance in mitigating the adverse macroeconomic effects of climate-related catastrophes. We first develop a stylised theoretical growth model which incorporates a role for natural catastrophes, climate change and insurance. This illustrates how insurance can...

This study evaluates the causal impact of Indonesia's Power Transmission Development Project on regional economic development. Employing the Generalized Synthetic Control Method on district-level satellite data, we find a statistically significant increase in economic activity (p=0.033), which...

Scenarios and pathways, as defined and used in the "SSP-RCP scenario framework", are key in last decade's climate change research and in the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In this framework, Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) consist of a limited set of...

Wirtschaftliche Kennzahlen wie das Wirtschaftswachstum sind wichtige Indikatoren zur Bewertung politischer Entscheidungsträger. In den USA hatten Präsidenten der demokratischen Partei höhere Wachstumsraten als die der republikanischen Partei. Dieser Artikel untersucht den Zusammenhang...

In jüngster Zeit wird kritisch debattiert, ob bzw. inwiefern eine Kreislaufwirtschaft mit Wirtschaftswachstum vereinbar ist. Hier stehen sich zwei Positionen diametral gegenüber. Auf der einen Seite gibt es Plädoyers für eine Kreislaufwirtschaft, die ganz gezielt auf Wachstum setzen soll...

The process of transition and growth in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) provides interesting insights, considering the countries' historical relationship with the Soviet Union. The 20 years after the Eastern enlargement of the European Union show an integrative power within the Single Market....

A free competitive market offers wide opportunities for individuals and businesses and is compatible with the framework of classical liberalism. It is also the best environment for boosting productivity and economic growth. * Theere are uncompetitive elements within the UK's private sector which...

Sechs Essays würdigen das wissenschaftliche Wirken von Rainer Klump im Bereich der Entwicklung wirtschaftlichen Denkens und innovativer Technologien sowie des Wirtschaftswachstums.

Die Verbreitung von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) schreitet immer schneller voran. Vor allem das Aufkommen generativer KI, die die Fähigkeit hat, menschliches Denken und Handeln zu imitieren, führt zu völlig neuen technischen Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und kann zu weitreichenden Veränderungen...