We analyze the joint dynamics of religious beliefs, scientific progress and coalitional politics along both religious and economic lines. History offers many examples of the recurring tensions between science and organized religion, but as part of the paper’s motivating evidence we also...

Australia is experiencing its largest mining boom for more than a century and a half. This paper explores, from a national perspective, important economic differences that arise when a mining boom, such as the current one, is generated by sustained export price increases (trading gains) rather...

In this paper we examine the dynamic relationship between interest rate reforms and economic growth in Tanzania using two tests. In the first test, we examine the impact of interest rate reforms on financial deepening using a financial deepening model. In the second test, we examine whether the...

Recent literature argues that conflict in shifting adjustment costs between different socioeconomic groups delays necessary reforms and finds that such reforms often follow economic crises. This paper expands these models by including external borrowing by the private sector and shows that this...

Theoretical and empirical literatures have identified several channels through which foreign direct investment (FDI) influences economic growth. This paper examines the impact of FDI on economic output growth per worker using aggregate production function augmented with FDI inflows, economic...

We analyse how the choice of reform speed, foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth affect one another. New reforms affect economic growth negatively, whereas the level of past reform leads to higher growth and attracts FDI. We simulate the impact of big bang and gradualist strategies...

Foreign savings closely interact with economic performance. External loans are partly influenced by the government's attempt to balance its budget. This study investigates the relationship between public sector foreign borrowing and economic growth. Results indicate that only under circumstances...

Provincial income disparity in China has been increasing with rapid economic growth, yet the measurement of the causes of the divergence is relatively inadequate. Based on growth regression analysis and “counterfactual econometrics”, this paper constructs “counterfactual” relative per...

We investigate the effects of ethnic diversity on economic growth in the People's Republic of China. Based on provincial data from 1982 to 2007, we find a negative relationship between ethnic diversity and economic growth across Chinese provinces supporting existing cross-country studies such as...

This study investigates the impact of inflation on economic growth in India during the period 1960 to 2005. Applying cointegration procedures, I find that inflation rates have a significant adverse impact on economic growth while investment has a favorable impact. This suggests a policy of...