Diplomatura en Ciències Empresarials (3011)

Creixement econòmic II (10101) 

CREIXEMENT ECONÒMIC II

This course is the continuation of "Creixement Economic I" taught in the first quarter of this academic year. After reviewing the basic growth models tough in Creixement Economic I, the first part of the course will introduce models in which economic growth is driven by the accumulation of human capital (education). Education is considered one important factor to enhance and diffuse the technological knowledge of a country and these models try to understand what are the main factors determining the acquisition of education.

The second part of the course will be devoted to the analysis of models in which growth is driven by the introduction of new production inputs and new processes of production. The growth in industrialized countries is associated with the invention of new inputs into production and new processes of production and by the imitation of these new inputs and processes. Therefore the second part of this course will critically review some of these models.

The third part of the course is concerned with the importance of policies in influencing the growth rate of the economy. In particular, several models of growth predicts that fiscal policies may have a non trivial implication for growth. Therefore the question addressed by these studies is what are the policies that a country should implement in order to push the economy to an optimal growth path.

The forth and final part of the course is concerned with the empirical evidence on the growth performance of different countries. Given the wide differences in the growth rates experienced by different countries, it is important to understand what are the country-specific differences that are important in differentiating their performances. Therefore some of the empirical studies analyzing this issue will be reviewed in this part.

There will be lecture notes and weekly problem sets. Grading will be based, in order of importance on the final exam, the midterm exam and the problem sets.

Bibliografia

BACKER, G. S. Human Capital. 3a. ed. The University of Chicago Press, 1993.

BARRO, R. J. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries". Quarterly Journal of Economics. Maig 1991. Pàg. 407-443.

BARRO, R. J.; SALA-i-MARTIN, X. Economic Growth. McGraw-Hill, 1995.

GROSSMAN, G.; HELPMAN, E. Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy. MIT Press, 1991.

LUCAS, R.E. "On the Mechanics of Economic Development". Journal of Monetary Economics, 22. 1988. Pàg. 3-42.

LUCAS, R. E. "Making a Miracle", Econometrica. 61. Març 1993. Pàg. 251-272.

PARENTE, S. L., PRESCOTT, E. C. "Changes in the Wealth of Nations". Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, primavera 1993.

ROMER, P. "New Goods, Old Theory, and the Welfare Costs of Trade Restrictions ". Journal of Development Economics, 63. 1993. Pàg. 3-16.