2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture - Comparative Economic Development: Insights from Unified Growth Theory

Abstract

This paper explores the implications of Unified Growth Theory for the origins of existing differences in income per capita across countries. The theory sheds light on three fundamental layers of comparative development. It identifies the factors that have governed the pace of the transition from stagnation to growth and have thus contributed to contemporary variation in economic development. It uncovers the forces that have sparked the emergence of multiple growth regimes and convergence clubs, and it underlines the persistent effects that variations in pre-historical biogeographical conditions have generated on the composition of human capital and economic development across the globe.

Keywords: Growth, Comparative Development, Globalization, Technological Progress, Demographic Transition, Diversity, Human Capital, Malthusian Stagnation

JEL Classification: F40, O11, O14, O15, O33, O40, J10, J13, N0