scholarly journals Disaster Impact, National Aid, and Economic Growth: Evidence from the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renjie Zhao ◽  
Shihu Zhong ◽  
Aiping He

How disasters have affected economic growth has often been a subject for economic debate, and empirical studies of the experience in China are clearly inadequate. Using the panel data from 181 county-level cities in Sichuan province from 2003 to 2013, this paper investigates the direct and dynamic effects of the Wenchuan earthquake disaster on economic growth, as well as how national rescue affected postdisaster economic recovery. The econometric results show that earthquakes significantly reduce real GDP in the affected areas after controlling for the national rescue variables, and this negative effect exists in the affected area over a long time. In addition, our empirical findings suggest that the postdisaster national rescue can promote economic recovery in the affected areas by increasing government expenditure, improving traffic conditions, and enhancing the urbanization process and the level of industrialization. Besides, state financial aid has no obvious effect on the development of tertiary industries and the accumulation of human capital in affected areas. These results were found to be robust after applying several approaches to alleviate the potential endogeneity problem. Findings in this study carry several important policy implications. As well as providing national rescue to promote postdisaster reconstruction, the government should also develop policies that will provide direct aid funding to tertiary industries and boost postdisaster economic reconstruction and human capital accumulation, thus improving the efficiency of relief funding and reducing the long-term adverse effects of the disaster on economic growth.

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz G. Arnold

Abstract Standard R&D growth models have two disturbing properties: the presence of scale effects (i.e., the prediction that larger economies grow faster) and the implication that there is a multitude of growth-enhancing policies. Recent models of growth without scale effects, such as Segerstrom's (1998), not only remove the counterfactual scale effect, but also imply that the growth rate does not react to any kind of economic policy. They share a different disturbing property, however: economic growth depends positively on population growth, and the economy cannot grow in the absence of population growth. The present paper integrates human capital accumulation into Segerstrom's (1998) model of growth without scale effects. Consistent with many empirical studies, growth is positively related not to population growth, but to investment in human capital. And there is one way to accelerate growth: subsidizing education.


Author(s):  
Emad Adnan Matyori Emad Adnan Matyori

This study aims to estimates the effect of government spending on education and its policies on the accumulation of human capital and then economic growth, for this purpose, we use the econometric method, and employed the simultaneous equations model, for a sample of fourteen countries from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) For the period (1980- 2019); The study concluded, in the first estimates stage of the model, that most of the government spending policies on education used in the study positively affect the accumulation of human capital, except, government spending policy on education at basic educational levels, which had a negative impact. And in the second estimates stage of the model, The study concluded, a positive impact of the accumulated human capital due to government spending on education and its policies on economic growth; Consequently, government spending policies on education positively affect economic growth through the channel of human capital accumulation, expressed in the composite index based on the Barrow- Lee database of average years of schooling for the working- age population, adjusted for the quality and return of education. The study made the following recommendations: interest to international education indicators data, as it is the basis for managing the educational system. Study more government spending policies on education to reveal its role in human capital accumulation and economic growth.: interest to human capital when formulating government policies, targeting its development, and increasing its contribution to GDP.


2017 ◽  
Vol 126 (5B) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà

This paper is in line with literature reviews of ageing society and economic growth to provide a deeper knowledge of whether ageing population diminishes or enhances economic growth. The first part presents the causes of negative effects of population ageing on economic growth. It reveals that lower fertility, longer life expectancy, low consumption and high public spending on health care lead to aggregate output growth decline in the long-run. The following part attempts to explain the hypotheses of why ageing can contribute to economic growth. The key issue is the human capital accumulation according to the proposition of replicated economy. Furthermore, this part indentifies the elderly factors affecting economic growth, including effective labor, knowledge transfer and change in saving patterns. Accordingly, the conceptual framework is schematically shown with linkages underlying the impact of population ageing on economic growth. This study is expected to be the first research focuses on the schematic diagram of this relationship and will be useful for planning policy reform of the government of Vietnam. Lastly, after reviewing the overview picture of population ageing in Vietnam, some policy implications are suggested to take advantage of population ageing and to diminish negative effects of population ageing on economic growth.


2011 ◽  
pp. 66-77
Author(s):  
O. Vasilieva

Does resource abundance positively affect human capital accumulation? Or, alternatively, does it «crowd out» the human capital leading to the deterioration of economic growth? The paper gives an overview of the relevant literature and discusses both theoretical and empirical results obtained regarding the connection between human capital accumulation and resource abundance. It shows that despite some theoretical predictions about the harmful effect of resource abundance on human capital accumulation, unambiguous evidence of such impact that would be robust with respect to the change of resource abundance parameter has not been obtained yet.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Wei-Bin Zhang

This paper proposes a one-sector multigroup growth model with endogenous labor supply in discrete time. Proposing an alternative approach to behavior of households, we examine the dynamics of wealth and income distribution in a competitive economy with capital accumulation as the main engine of economic growth. We show how human capital levels, preferences, and labor force of heterogeneous households determine the national economic growth, wealth, and income distribution and time allocation of the groups. By simulation we demonstrate, for instance, that in the three-group economy when the rich group's human capital is improved, all the groups will economically benefit, and the leisure times of all the groups are reduced but when any other group's human capital is improved, the group will economically benefit, the other two groups economically lose, and the leisure times of all the groups are increased.


2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (03) ◽  
pp. 157-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Corrales

Abstract Cuba faces a development dilemma: it promotes equity and human capital while failing to deliver economic growth. For the government, the country's equity and human capital achievements are a source of pride, a sign that its priorities are right. This essay argues instead that this “equity without growth” dilemma is a sign of malaise. Theory and evidence suggest that high levels of equity and human capital should produce high levels of economic growth. Because growth is often weak or negative, some onerous barriers to development must be present. These barriers, it is argued, are restrictions on property and political rights. By comparing Cuba and China across two sectors, the bicycle industry and Internet access, this article shows how these restrictions have hindered growth. It also assesses how Cuba's latest economic reforms, the so-called Lineamientos, will address Cuba's development dilemma. The impact may be minimal, but perhaps more lasting than previous reforms.


2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebney Ayaj Rana ◽  
Abu N. M. Wahid

The economy of Bangladesh is currently going through a period of continuous budget deficit. The present data suggest that the government budget deficit, on average, is nearly 5% of the country’s GDP. This has been true since the early 2000s. To finance this deficit, governments have been borrowing largely from domestic and foreign sources resulting in inflationary pressure on one hand, and crowding out of private investments on the other. During the same period, although the economy has grown steadily at a rate of more than 6%, this growth is less than the potential. This article presents an econometric study of the impact of government budget deficits on the economic growth of Bangladesh. We conduct a time-series analysis using ordinary least squares estimation, vector error correction model, and granger causality test. The findings suggest that the government budget deficit has statistically significant negative impact on economic growth in Bangladesh. Policy implications of our findings include reestablishing the rule of law, political stability in the country, restructuring tax structure, closing tax loopholes, and harmonizing fiscal policy with monetary policy to attract additional domestic and foreign investment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Mohd Shahidan Shaari ◽  
Razinda Tasnim Abdul Rahim ◽  
Nor Hidayah Harun ◽  
Faiz Masnan

The issue of human capital by gender has been sparsely discussed in previous literature especially male labour force. The contribution of both genders to economic growth has intensified every year. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of human capital by gender on economic growth in Malaysia. Data ranging from 1982 to 2018 were analysed by using the ARDL approach. The results show that higher male labour force participation rates can boost economic growth in the short run and long run in Malaysia. Higher female labour force participation rates, on the other hand, can reduce economic growth in the short run and long run in Malaysia. Therefore, the government should encourage more male labour to participate in the labour market by giving incentives. More job opportunities should be created for both genders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Abubakar Aminu ◽  

This paper investigated the impact of education tax and investment in human capital on economic growth in Nigeria utilizing the Non-Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model of cointegration covering the period of 25 years from 1995 to 2019. The findings reveal that education tax and investment in human capital have positive and significant effect on the growth of the Nigerian economy over the sampled period. The paper recommends that in order to boost the economy, Nigeria would need to, among other policy frameworks, provide a suitable environment for ensuring macro-economic stability through effective utilization of income from education tax that will encourage increased investment in human capital in the public sector. In addition to income from education tax, for effective and speedy economic growth and development in Nigeria, the government, beneficiaries (students/parents), employers of labor and other stakeholders in the society should share the responsibility for financing primary, secondary and tertiary education, so as to provide a solid foundation for human capital development. However, as revealed in this paper, the contribution of education tax and investment in human capital is most likely to be realized over a long-run period than in the short term. Keywords: Education Tax; Investment; Human capital; Economic growth


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