Proponents of minimum wage increases have argued that such hikes can serve as an engine of economic growth and assist low-skilled individuals during downturns in the business cycle. However, a review of the literature provides little empirical support for these claims. Minimum wage increases...

Background: The shrinkage of working age population at ages between 15 and 59 after 2010 will end the era of the high-speed economic growth in China. This paper is intended to explore the ways of tackling this slowdown. Methods: By revealing annual growth rate of potential output to drop to 7.2...

The root cause behind the Chinese economy's slowing down in 2012 lies in a "one-size-fits-all" approach to macroeconomic management. This approach must be abandoned if domestic demand is to be effectively boosted. A superior approach would involve the introduction of policies tailored to the...

This paper reviews the empirical literature on rates of return on R&D and interprets the economic significance of these estimates using a semi-endogenous growth model with a calibrated knowledge production sector. We analyse how R&D subsidies, a reduction of entry barriers for start-ups and...

This study describes the state of the art in the measurement of intangible capital and its contribution to economic growth, with a focus on an international comparison of intangible investment intensity and intangible capital deepening among eleven advanced economies. By employing a broad...

The literature on economic growth has identified knowledge expansion as a key propellant. Early research derived this conclusion from the residual that remained after the growth contributions from capital and labour had been accounted for. Later modifications expanded the concept of fixed...

Today there are many questions about the nature and the future of the so-called 'new economy'. The term 'new economy' itself has acquired a variety of quite different connotations. For many commentators, it continues to refer primarily to the altered macroeconomic performance of the US economy...

Even though the industrial revolution started in Europe, many commentators suggest that European entrepreneurship has become an oxymoron. The facts of the case are, however, growing against them. For instance, Europeans nowadays run a fair share of Silicon Valley companies. Examples include...