We set up an endogenous growth model in which the efficiency of both capital and fossil energy can be improved, whereas the efficiency of one alternative energy source is limited. With capital and energy as complements, there exist two steady states: one stagnant where energy is fully derived...

This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion...

Will the integration of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) into the global economy provide the biggest boost to the world economy since the industrial revolution? In this paper, we investigate international demand spillovers brought about by an emerging global middle class and their impact...

Why do some countries industrialize much earlier than others? One widely-accepted answer is that markets need to be large enough for producers to find it profitable to bear the fixed cost of introducing modern technologies. This insight, however, has limited explanatory power, as illustrated by...

This paper provides a unified growth theory, i.e. a model that explains the very long-run economic and demographic development path of industrialized economies, stretching from the pre-industrial era to the present-day and beyond. Making strict use of Malthus' (1798) so-called preventive check...

Countries enjoy the benefits of industrialization for economic growth after surpassing a certain threshold of technological integration in manufacturing. Some available data do not reject this hypothesis. This feature of development is consistent with the observed gaps in long-run growth rates...

A key aspect of industrialization is the adoption of increasing-returns-to-scale, industrial, technologies. Two other, well-documented aspects are that industrial technologies are adopted throughout intermediate-input chains and that they use intermediate inputs intensively relative to the...

This paper offers a theoretical framework to understand the coevolution of social interactions and long-term economic growth. It begins by considering that most traditional societies did not have educational markets. Thus, access to the required knowledge for transiting to a modern economy had...

This report is the result of a joint study by the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), based on the experience of economic development in Korea and Zimbabwe. This collaboration originated from an existing...

The industrialization of sub-Saharan Africa has been lagging for a long time. In particular, the growth of the manufacturing sector of the region has been generally minimal. Most of the countries’ economies have been heavily dependent on primary sectors such as agriculture or natural resources...