制度、最优政府规模与经济增长

Institutions,Optimal Government Size and Economic Growth

本文通过英属和西葡属殖民地41个国家1970—2003年的面板数据研究分析了制度、最优政府规模与经济增长的关系,验证了制度质量影响政府支出的产出效应和最优政府规模,从而导致经济增长差异;英属殖民地由于制度质量高于西葡属殖民地,使得其最优政府规模和经济增长均高于后者,这从制度和政府规模的角度解释了殖民历史国家经济增长差异的原因。本文的研究考虑了影响最优政府规模的制度因素,并用实证结果支持了诺斯提出的宗主国制度影响殖民地政策的理论。

The relationship between institutional infrastructure,optimal government size and economic growth rates across 41 nations from 1970 to 2003 is examined.Based on the framework of the neoclassical growth model and Karra＇s optimal government size model,this paper integrates EFW index which substitutes for the overall institutional infrastructure of an economy,to facilitating identification of the most important institutions that account for the observed variations in economic growth rates among nations.Results indicate institutions are significant in explaining the variations in optimal government size and economic growth rates.