The notion that lack of knowledge undermines the economic performance of African countries is deeply and widely held to be true. Yet evidence for the basis of that truth is few and far in-between. This paper first describes a production function approach to the creation of knowledge of African...

Emerging evidence shows a strong correlation between institutions and economic growth, and explains the recent research shift from focus on resources and resource productivity to institutions as determinants of economic growth. The positive correlation is read by some as indication that...

Some forms of environmentalism has generated many positive responses from concerned communities. Sophisticated theories addressing various aspects of environmental policy abound. At the practical level private economic agents following their self-interests confront the challenge of cleaning up...

What determines the wealth of nations? If anyone knew the answer to that question, no-one would have heard of Adam Smith as an economist, and for that matter all economists. Economics is really the study of wealth creation under scarcity. The reason economists and others have a hard time pinning...

This paper decomposes the large regression residuals of income across 84 U.S. Native American economies (USNAEs) into Solow and Solow-like parts. Decomposition is accomplished algebraically. The calculations find a weak to negative correlation between income and Solow residuals, and a strong...

I outline four, and calculate two, broad indices of the diversity of technical capability of 14 African countries based on nine common descriptors of technical capability. I find technical capability to be heterogenous, and conclude that performance policies that ignore technical diversity of...

This short paper analyzes Namibia's data from 1968 to 1992 in order to determine the role of exports in economic growth. The analysis confirms the general importance of exports, but finds no discernible sign of accelerated growth because of it. There is some evidence supporting the political...

This essay develops a transcendental variable elasticity of substitution (Trans-VES) production function in which hypotheses concerning scale, output-input, and substitution, elasticities can be examined. The objective is to determine the impacts of domestic resources on the pattern of economic...

W. Arthur Lewis’s distinction between factors and forces of production, and Paul Romer’s insightful identification of the poverty of objects and the lack of ideas, as central to economic growth rate differences across economies, have enriched economic growth theory. However, both object-...

This paper decomposes the large regression residuals of income across 84 U.S. Native American economies (USNAEs) into Solow and Solow-like parts. Decomposition is accomplished algebraically. The calculations find a weak to negative correlation between income and Solow residuals, and a strong...