Sjak Smulders

The impact of energy conservation on technology and economic growth

We present a model of growth driven by energy use and endogenous factor-augmenting technological change. Both the rate and direction of technological progress are endogenous. The model captures four main stylised facts: total energy use has increased; energy use per hour worked increased slightly; energy efficiency has improved; and the value share of energy in GDP has steadily fallen. We study how energy conservation policies affect growth over time and in the long run. Policies that reduce the level of energy use are distinguished from those that reduce the growth rate of energy inputs. Although these policies may stimulate innovation, they unambiguously depress output levels. The former policy has no impact on long-run growth; the latter reduces long-run growth both in the short run and in the long run.

Technological Distance, Growth and Scale Effects

We present an endogenous growth model in which the scale effect may be positive or negative, but vanishes asymptotically. The mechanism behind this result provides a microfoundation for models that exploit the interaction of growth and market structure to remove the scale effect. When more firms are active, the economy is more specialised in that firms are less likely to work on related problems. This increase in technological distance reduces the spillovers between firms. A larger economy with more firms accumulates more knowledge. However, the spillovers that benefit a firm do not necessarily increase because of the differentiation of the knowledge stock.

Imperfect competition, concentration and growth with firm-specific R & D

Abstract The paper presents a model of growth based on innovation. High-tech firms cover the fixed cost of R and D out of operating profits and sell output in a market with imperfect competition. Innovation builds on and contributes to firm-specific knowledge. Moreover, there are spillovers among firms. Growth is higher in a more concentrated market provided that market power of firms is not too high. Economic integration between symmetric countries fosters growth, as profit margins decrease with market shares. Integration of production lines and research efforts by mergers or horizontal integration is conducive to growth.

Growth, Competition and Welfare

The impact of competition on growth and welfare is analyzed by developing a model in which the number of firms, profit margins, and innovation rates are endogenous. Different regimes of oligopolistic competition are distinguished. The tougher the price competition, the lower the profit margins for a given rate of concentration. This reduces the number of firms and product variety in a free entry equilibrium. Consequently, tougher competition implies larger firm size and higher rates of innovation since new technologies can be applied in a larger market. Oligopolistic pricing leads to underinvestment in firm-specific knowledge, even if interfirm spillovers are neglected. Copyright 1997 by The editors of the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Environmental policy and sustainable economic growth: An endogenous growth perspective

SummaryThis paper investigates the consequences of environmental policy for welfare, consumption and production growth in a situation in which environmental quality is initially too low. The natural environment is incorporated in endogenous growth theory in a way that is consistent with some simple notions from the laws of thermodynamics. Environmental policy affects growth, both in the long run and in the short run, by affecting the productivity of investment and the savings behavior of consumers. The environment provides necessary inputs to economic production and accumulation processes. Hence improvements in environmental quality that follow environmental policy may boost the productivity of the environment and growth.

Trade pessimists vs technology optimists : induced technical change and pollution havens

Abstract Our paper focuses on the role of endogenous technology and technology spillovers in explaining cross country differences in pollution and the pollution haven effect of international trade. In our North-South trade model, technology is endogenously developed by the North and imitated by the South. Environmental regulators choose national environmental policies by trading off the income gains and the disutility from a rise in pollution. Differences in environmental stringency are entirely driven by differences in investment opportunities and distortions that follow from the difference in intellectual property rights protection. We show that without goods trade and in the absence of technology subsidies, the North imposes more stringent environmental regulation than the South. When opening up to trade, the South experiences a rise in prices for pollution-intensive goods and tends to raise pollution as in a standard trade model. Induced technical change, however, may reverse this pollution haven effect.

Sustainability and Substitution of Exhaustible Natural Resources: How Resource Prices Affect Long-term R&D Investments

A method and a device for the formation of the braided sheath on a cable in such a way that the sheath when mounted in such as a connection box gives good contact with the casing of the box.

North-South knowledge spillovers and competition: convergence versus divergence

Abstract Technology spillovers from high-productivity countries in the North allow low-productivity countries in the South to improve productivity in high-tech sectors relatively easy. However, the Souths share in world goods markets for high-tech products is relatively low, which reduces opportunities for learning by doing. Our simple Ricardian endogenous growth model shows how the balance between toughness of competition in trade and the strength of North-South spillovers determines whether productivity levels diverge, partially converge or fully converge in the long run. If convergence prevails, the North is confronted with declining employment in high-tech sectors. Temporary (trade) policy measures can turn a diverging economy into a converging one.

Reconstructing growth theory : A survey

SummaryRecent developments in the theory of economic growth aim at endogenising long-run growth. The paper discusses models in which technological change arises as a by-product of certain economic activities as well as models where some economic actions are explicity aimed at technological improvements. In addition, separate sections are devoted to the specific reconstruction of growth theory by M. Scott and models explaining stages of economic development. For expositional purposes the algebra is kept to a minimum. The focus is on theoretical models for a closed economy. Empirical work is only mentioned in passing.

Bonding and Bridging Social Capital and Economic Growth

In this paper we develop a formal model of economic growth and two types of social capital. Following extant literature, we model social capital as participation in two types of social networks: first, closed networks of family and friends, and, second, open networks that bridge different communities. Higher levels of social capital may crowd out economic growth through a reduction of working time. At the same time, participation in intercommunity networks reduces incentives for rent seeking and cheating, promoting economic growth. We test our hypotheses in a sample of European regions using unique data from the European Value Studies (EVS). Our findings show that it is important to distinguish between the nature of the social interaction.