Growth and externalities across economies : an empirical analysis using spatial econometrics

Recent theoretical models of economic growth have emphasised the role of external effects on the accumulation of factors of production. Although most of the literature has considered the externalities across firms within a region, in this paper we go a step further and consider the possibility that these externalities cross the barriers of regional economies. We assess the role of these external effects in explaining growth and economic convergence. We present a simple growth model, which includes externalities across economies, developing a methodology for testing their existence and estimating their strength. In our view, spatial econometrics is naturally suited to an empirical consideration of these externalities. We obtain evidence on the presence of significant externalities both across Spanish and European regions.

Deficit, human capital and economic growth dynamics

Long-run economic growth arouses a great interest since it can shed light on the income-path of an economy and try to explain the large differences in income we observe across countries and over time. The neoclassical model has been followed by several endogenous growth models which, contrarily to the former, seem to predict that economies with similar preferences and technological level, do not necessarily tend to converge to similar per capita income levels. This paper attempts to show a possible mechanismthrough which macroeconomic disequilibria and inefficiencies, represented by budget deficits, may hinder human capital accumulation and therefore economic growth. Using a mixed education system, deficit is characterized as a bug agent which may end up sharply reducing the resources devoted to education and training. The paper goes a step further from the literature on deficit by introducing a rich dynamic analysis of the effects of a deficit reduction on different economic aspects.Following a simple growth model and allowing for slight changes in the law of human capital accumulation, we reach a point where deficit might sharply reduce human capital accumulation. On the other hand, a deficit reduction carried on for a long time, taking that reduction as a more efficient management of the economy, may prove useful in inducing endogenous growth. Empirical evidence for a sample of countries seems to support the theoretical assumptions in the model: (1) evidence on an inverse relationship betweendeficit and human capital accumulation, (2) presence of a strongly negative associationbetween the quantity of deficit in the economy and the rate of growth. They may prove a certain role for budget deficit in economic growth

Deficit, human capital and economic growth dynamics

Long-run economic growth arouses a great interest since it can shed light on the income-path of an economy and try to explain the large differences in income we observe across countries and over time. The neoclassical model has been followed by several endogenous growth models which, contrarily to the former, seem to predict that economies with similar preferences and technological level, do not necessarily tend to converge to similar per capita income levels. This paper attempts to show a possible mechanismthrough which macroeconomic disequilibria and inefficiencies, represented by budget deficits, may hinder human capital accumulation and therefore economic growth. Using a mixed education system, deficit is characterized as a bug agent which may end up sharply reducing the resources devoted to education and training. The paper goes a step further from the literature on deficit by introducing a rich dynamic analysis of the effects of a deficit reduction on different economic aspects.Following a simple growth model and allowing for slight changes in the law of human capital accumulation, we reach a point where deficit might sharply reduce human capital accumulation. On the other hand, a deficit reduction carried on for a long time, taking that reduction as a more efficient management of the economy, may prove useful in inducing endogenous growth. Empirical evidence for a sample of countries seems to support the theoretical assumptions in the model: (1) evidence on an inverse relationship betweendeficit and human capital accumulation, (2) presence of a strongly negative associationbetween the quantity of deficit in the economy and the rate of growth. They may prove a certain role for budget deficit in economic growth

Growth and externalities across economies : an empirical analysis using spatial econometrics

Recent theoretical models of economic growth have emphasised the role of external effects on the accumulation of factors of production. Although most of the literature has considered the externalities across firms within a region, in this paper we go a step further and consider the possibility that these externalities cross the barriers of regional economies. We assess the role of these external effects in explaining growth and economic convergence. We present a simple growth model, which includes externalities across economies, developing a methodology for testing their existence and estimating their strength. In our view, spatial econometrics is naturally suited to an empirical consideration of these externalities. We obtain evidence on the presence of significant externalities both across Spanish and European regions.

Giant step bunching from self-organized coalescence of SrRuO3 islands

Step bunching develops in the epitaxy of SrRuO3 on vicinal SrTiO3(001) substrates. We have investigated the formation mechanisms and we show here that step bunching forms by lateral coalescence of wedgelike three-dimensional islands that are nucleated at substrate steps. After coalescence, wedgelike islands become wider and straighter with growth, forming a self-organized network of parallel step bunches with altitudes exceeding 30 unit cells, separated by atomically flat terraces. The formation mechanism of step bunching in SrRuO3, from nucleated islands, radically differs from one-dimensional models used to describe bunching in semiconducting materials. These results illustrate that growth phenomena of complex oxides can be dramatically different to those in semiconducting or metallic systems.

Three-step pathway engineering results in more incidence rate and higher emission of nerolidol and improved attraction of Diadegma semiclausum

The concentration and ratio of terpenoids in the headspace volatile blend of plants have a fundamental role in the communication of plants and insects. The sesquiterpene (E)-nerolidol is one of the important volatiles with effect on beneficial carnivores for biologic pest management in the field. To optimize de novo biosynthesis and reliable and uniform emission of (E)-nerolidol, we engineered different steps of the (E)-nerolidol biosynthesis pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. Introduction of a mitochondrial nerolidol synthase gene mediates de novo emission of (E)-nerolidol and linalool. Co-expression of the mitochondrial FPS1 and cytosolic HMGR1 increased the number of emitting transgenic plants (incidence rate) and the emission rate of both volatiles. No association between the emission rate of transgenic volatiles and their growth inhibitory effect could be established. (E)-Nerolidol was to a large extent metabolized to non-volatile conjugates.

A signaling mechanism coupling netrin-1/deleted in colorectal cancer chemoattraction to SNARE-mediated exocytosis in axonal growth cones

Directed cell migration and axonal guidance are essential steps in neural development. Both processes are controlled by specific guidance cues that activate the signaling cascades that ultimately control cytoskeletal dynamics. Another essential step in migration and axonal guidance is the regulation of plasmalemma turnover and exocytosis in leading edges and growth cones. However, the cross talk mechanisms linking guidance receptors and membrane exocytosis are not understood. Netrin-1 is a chemoattractive cue required for the formation of commissural pathways. Here, we show that the Netrin-1 receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) forms a protein complex with the t-SNARE (target SNARE) protein Syntaxin-1 (Sytx1). This interaction is Netrin-1 dependent both in vitro and in vivo, and requires specific Sytx1 and DCC domains. Blockade of Sytx1 function by using botulinum toxins abolished Netrin-1-dependent chemoattraction of axons in mouse neuronal cultures. Similar loss-of-function experiments in the chicken spinal cord in vivo using dominant-negative Sytx1 constructs or RNAi led to defects in commissural axon pathfinding reminiscent to those described in Netrin-1 and DCC loss-of-function models. We also show that Netrin-1 elicits exocytosis at growth cones in a Sytx1-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate that the Sytx1/DCC complex associates with the v-SNARE (vesicle SNARE) tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive vesicle-associated membrane protein (TI-VAMP) and that knockdown of TI-VAMP in the commissural pathway in the spinal cord results in aberrant axonal guidance phenotypes. Our data provide evidence of a new signaling mechanism that couples chemotropic Netrin-1/DCC axonal guidance and Sytx1/TI-VAMP SNARE proteins regulating membrane turnover and exocytosis.

A signaling mechanism coupling netrin-1/deleted in colorectal cancer chemoattraction to SNARE-mediated exocytosis in axonal growth cones

Directed cell migration and axonal guidance are essential steps in neural development. Both processes are controlled by specific guidance cues that activate the signaling cascades that ultimately control cytoskeletal dynamics. Another essential step in migration and axonal guidance is the regulation of plasmalemma turnover and exocytosis in leading edges and growth cones. However, the cross talk mechanisms linking guidance receptors and membrane exocytosis are not understood. Netrin-1 is a chemoattractive cue required for the formation of commissural pathways. Here, we show that the Netrin-1 receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) forms a protein complex with the t-SNARE (target SNARE) protein Syntaxin-1 (Sytx1). This interaction is Netrin-1 dependent both in vitro and in vivo, and requires specific Sytx1 and DCC domains. Blockade of Sytx1 function by using botulinum toxins abolished Netrin-1-dependent chemoattraction of axons in mouse neuronal cultures. Similar loss-of-function experiments in the chicken spinal cord in vivo using dominant-negative Sytx1 constructs or RNAi led to defects in commissural axon pathfinding reminiscent to those described in Netrin-1 and DCC loss-of-function models. We also show that Netrin-1 elicits exocytosis at growth cones in a Sytx1-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate that the Sytx1/DCC complex associates with the v-SNARE (vesicle SNARE) tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive vesicle-associated membrane protein (TI-VAMP) and that knockdown of TI-VAMP in the commissural pathway in the spinal cord results in aberrant axonal guidance phenotypes. Our data provide evidence of a new signaling mechanism that couples chemotropic Netrin-1/DCC axonal guidance and Sytx1/TI-VAMP SNARE proteins regulating membrane turnover and exocytosis.

A signaling mechanism coupling netrin-1/deleted in colorectal cancer chemoattraction to SNARE-mediated exocytosis in axonal growth cones

Directed cell migration and axonal guidance are essential steps in neural development. Both processes are controlled by specific guidance cues that activate the signaling cascades that ultimately control cytoskeletal dynamics. Another essential step in migration and axonal guidance is the regulation of plasmalemma turnover and exocytosis in leading edges and growth cones. However, the cross talk mechanisms linking guidance receptors and membrane exocytosis are not understood. Netrin-1 is a chemoattractive cue required for the formation of commissural pathways. Here, we show that the Netrin-1 receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) forms a protein complex with the t-SNARE (target SNARE) protein Syntaxin-1 (Sytx1). This interaction is Netrin-1 dependent both in vitro and in vivo, and requires specific Sytx1 and DCC domains. Blockade of Sytx1 function by using botulinum toxins abolished Netrin-1-dependent chemoattraction of axons in mouse neuronal cultures. Similar loss-of-function experiments in the chicken spinal cord in vivo using dominant-negative Sytx1 constructs or RNAi led to defects in commissural axon pathfinding reminiscent to those described in Netrin-1 and DCC loss-of-function models. We also show that Netrin-1 elicits exocytosis at growth cones in a Sytx1-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate that the Sytx1/DCC complex associates with the v-SNARE (vesicle SNARE) tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive vesicle-associated membrane protein (TI-VAMP) and that knockdown of TI-VAMP in the commissural pathway in the spinal cord results in aberrant axonal guidance phenotypes. Our data provide evidence of a new signaling mechanism that couples chemotropic Netrin-1/DCC axonal guidance and Sytx1/TI-VAMP SNARE proteins regulating membrane turnover and exocytosis.

The farthest need the best. Human capital composition and development-specific economic growth

We provide robust and compelling evidence of the marked impact of tertiary education on the economic growth of less developed countries and of its the relatively smaller impact on the growth of developed ones. Our results argue in favor of the accumulation of high skill levels especially in technologically under-developed countries and, contrary to common wisdom, independently of the fact that these economies might initially produce lower-technology goods or perform technology imitation. Our results are robust to the different measures used in proxying human capital and to the adjustments made for cross-country differences in the quality of education. Country-specific institutional quality, as well as other indicators including legal origin, religious fractionalization and openness to trade have been used to control for the robustness of the results. These factors are also shown to speed up technology convergence thereby confirming previous empirical studies. Our estimates tackle problems of endogeneity by adopting a variety of techniques, including instrumental variables -for both panel and cross-section analyses- and the two-step efficient dynamics system GMM.

Financial development, labor and market regulations and growth

This paper investigates the importance that market regulation and financial imperfections have on firm growth. We analyse institutions af- fecting labor market as Employment Protection Laws (EP) and Product Market Regulation (PM). We show that together with the beneficial effects of financial development, a firm will get less financing, and thus investless, in a weak financial market (finance effect), the strictness of product and labor market regulations also affect firm growth (labor effect). In particular, we show that the stricter the rules the more detrimental the influence on growth in sectoral value added for a large number of countries. We also show that the labor effect overcomes the positive finance effect.

Environment conditions and biological innovations in the european agrarian growth, 1819-1939

The circumstances that were the driving forces behind Europe's economic growth beginning in the 19th century are diverse, and not easily prioritized. Until the 1970's, specifically, in Economy and Economic History, attention was focused on different institutional and technological variables, and various regularities were proposed. Nevertheless, new studies also underlined that the evolution of economic activity could not be understood considering only the new production possibilities offered by market economies. As a result, today it is also accepted that those processes can not be explained without considering two additional circumstances: the energy flows that sustained them, and the changes undergone in their transformation In this context, a question arises that takes on special importance. Which was the influence of the biological change in the economic growth?. A part of the flows of energy must be made into food, and this transformation can only happen with the participation.

Growth of positive words and lower bounds of the growth rate for Thompson's group (F)p

Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt.

Capitalism, unemployment and the transition to the contemporary pattern of growth

A new model of unemployment based on an idea of Marx is presented and used to interpret the development of the British economy from the beginning of capitalism to the present. It is shown that unemployment may be created purposely by capitalists in order to weaken the bargaining position of the workers. This mechanism leads to complex temporal pattern of unemployment and can explain why wages took almost a century and a half to react to the growing capital to labour ratio that characterised early British capitalism.