The economic growth in Sub-Sahara African （SSA） IDB member countries has been encouraging over the last decade; however, it is still not high enough to enable these countries to overcome the persistent poverty. Ther...The economic growth in Sub-Sahara African （SSA） IDB member countries has been encouraging over the last decade; however, it is still not high enough to enable these countries to overcome the persistent poverty. There is thus a need to raise substantially real GDP growth rates on a sustained basis, both through the productivity channel and factor accumulation such as labor and capital. This study focuses on ＂the source of economic growth in SSA IDB member countries＂ with the objective of identifying the main driving factors of economic growth in the region using the growth accounting framework and extending the existing analysis both by country and time coverage. The paper is expected to be useful for the policymakers in the region to have a clear picture on the main sources of growth, and thus help them in identifying strategic reform areas of intervention in line with the most binding factors of growth. The data used in this study cover 20 Sub-Sahara African countries covering the period 1990-2012. The data set includes real GDP, labor force, and capital stock. The source of data is the various version of the World Economic Outlook, IMF. Capital stock is estimated using perpetual inventory method and the base year is 1970. In estimating growth accounting model, a translog production function is applied using panel data and random effects model. Empirical results show that the capital accumulation is the most important individual factor in GDP growth （52%） followed by workforce accumulation （39%） while total factor productivity （TFP） accounts for meagre 8%. This suggests that, on average, real GDP growth in Sub-Sahara African countries was driven primarily by factor accumulation with a low level of TFP. In addition, the elasticity of labor was lower than that of capital indicating that the labor played very little role in GDP growth most likely due to unskilled labor force or mismatch of labor skills with the production process. Furthermore, this also adversely affects both the TFP growth and the share of capital growth to the GDP growth. The results indicate that the critical constraint to the economic growth appears to be poor labor skills that lead to both low labor productivity and under-utilization of capital stock.展开更多
This paper focuses on verifying the relevance of two theoretical propositions and related empirical investigation about the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship. It draws upon a creativity process that...This paper focuses on verifying the relevance of two theoretical propositions and related empirical investigation about the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship. It draws upon a creativity process that considers three ＂dimensions＂ or ＂disciplines＂ （3D） critical for creative organizations--within discipline expertise, out of discipline knowledge, and a disciplined creative process. The paper first explores the Cobb-Douglas production function as a relevant tool for modeling the 3D creative process. The next part discusses the 3D process as a production function, which is modeled following the well-known Cobb-Douglas specification. Last, the paper offers implications for future research on disciplined creativity/innovation as a method of improving organizations＇ creative performance. The modeling shows that labor and investment can readily enter into the 3D creativity process as inputs. These two inputs are meaningful in explaining where innovation outputs come from and how they can be measured, with a reasonable theoretical decomposition. It is not true that the more capital investments in the creativity process, the better the level of innovation production, but firm＇s human resource management and expenditures should pay attention to optimal levels of capital and labor stocks, in a combination that helps reach highest possible innovation output.展开更多
文摘The economic growth in Sub-Sahara African （SSA） IDB member countries has been encouraging over the last decade; however, it is still not high enough to enable these countries to overcome the persistent poverty. There is thus a need to raise substantially real GDP growth rates on a sustained basis, both through the productivity channel and factor accumulation such as labor and capital. This study focuses on ＂the source of economic growth in SSA IDB member countries＂ with the objective of identifying the main driving factors of economic growth in the region using the growth accounting framework and extending the existing analysis both by country and time coverage. The paper is expected to be useful for the policymakers in the region to have a clear picture on the main sources of growth, and thus help them in identifying strategic reform areas of intervention in line with the most binding factors of growth. The data used in this study cover 20 Sub-Sahara African countries covering the period 1990-2012. The data set includes real GDP, labor force, and capital stock. The source of data is the various version of the World Economic Outlook, IMF. Capital stock is estimated using perpetual inventory method and the base year is 1970. In estimating growth accounting model, a translog production function is applied using panel data and random effects model. Empirical results show that the capital accumulation is the most important individual factor in GDP growth （52%） followed by workforce accumulation （39%） while total factor productivity （TFP） accounts for meagre 8%. This suggests that, on average, real GDP growth in Sub-Sahara African countries was driven primarily by factor accumulation with a low level of TFP. In addition, the elasticity of labor was lower than that of capital indicating that the labor played very little role in GDP growth most likely due to unskilled labor force or mismatch of labor skills with the production process. Furthermore, this also adversely affects both the TFP growth and the share of capital growth to the GDP growth. The results indicate that the critical constraint to the economic growth appears to be poor labor skills that lead to both low labor productivity and under-utilization of capital stock.
文摘This paper focuses on verifying the relevance of two theoretical propositions and related empirical investigation about the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship. It draws upon a creativity process that considers three ＂dimensions＂ or ＂disciplines＂ （3D） critical for creative organizations--within discipline expertise, out of discipline knowledge, and a disciplined creative process. The paper first explores the Cobb-Douglas production function as a relevant tool for modeling the 3D creative process. The next part discusses the 3D process as a production function, which is modeled following the well-known Cobb-Douglas specification. Last, the paper offers implications for future research on disciplined creativity/innovation as a method of improving organizations＇ creative performance. The modeling shows that labor and investment can readily enter into the 3D creativity process as inputs. These two inputs are meaningful in explaining where innovation outputs come from and how they can be measured, with a reasonable theoretical decomposition. It is not true that the more capital investments in the creativity process, the better the level of innovation production, but firm＇s human resource management and expenditures should pay attention to optimal levels of capital and labor stocks, in a combination that helps reach highest possible innovation output.
