Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later

The study focused on a cross-section of countries observed in the mid-1990s, so the conclusions from that e¤ort are beginning to be a bit dated. In addition, signi cant revisions of the data underlying the 2005 paper have been published. Last but n...

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Main Author: Caselli, Francesco
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/199521487336202705/Accounting-for-cross-country-income-differences-ten-years-later
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26105
id okr-10986-26105
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-261052021-05-25T08:57:41Z Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later Caselli, Francesco income accounting income distribution The study focused on a cross-section of countries observed in the mid-1990s, so the conclusions from that e¤ort are beginning to be a bit dated. In addition, signi cant revisions of the data underlying the 2005 paper have been published. Last but not least, in the intervening years become aware of ways in which the original methodology can be usefully improved and extended. Hence the present update and upgrade of the original paper. This paper focuses on data (mostly) from 2005 and improves on the original methodology in several dimensions. Development accounting compares di¤erences in income per worker between developing and developed countries to counter-factual di¤erences attributable to observable components of physical and human capital. Such calculations can serve a useful preliminary diagnostic role before engaging in deeper and more detailed explorations of the fundamental determinants of di¤erences in income per worker. The research and policy agenda would then have to focus on technology, allocative e¢ ciency, competition, and other determinants of the efficient use of capital. However because of limitations in thecoverage of the test results, author also present results where human capital is only measured from years of schooling and health. It turns out that, at least in my preferred calibration, the addition or omission of cognitive skills (as measured by test scores) does not greatly affect the quantitative results. 2017-02-21T21:23:52Z 2017-02-21T21:23:52Z 2016-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/199521487336202705/Accounting-for-cross-country-income-differences-ten-years-later http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26105 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic income accounting
income distribution
spellingShingle income accounting
income distribution
Caselli, Francesco
Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later
description The study focused on a cross-section of countries observed in the mid-1990s, so the conclusions from that e¤ort are beginning to be a bit dated. In addition, signi cant revisions of the data underlying the 2005 paper have been published. Last but not least, in the intervening years become aware of ways in which the original methodology can be usefully improved and extended. Hence the present update and upgrade of the original paper. This paper focuses on data (mostly) from 2005 and improves on the original methodology in several dimensions. Development accounting compares di¤erences in income per worker between developing and developed countries to counter-factual di¤erences attributable to observable components of physical and human capital. Such calculations can serve a useful preliminary diagnostic role before engaging in deeper and more detailed explorations of the fundamental determinants of di¤erences in income per worker. The research and policy agenda would then have to focus on technology, allocative e¢ ciency, competition, and other determinants of the efficient use of capital. However because of limitations in thecoverage of the test results, author also present results where human capital is only measured from years of schooling and health. It turns out that, at least in my preferred calibration, the addition or omission of cognitive skills (as measured by test scores) does not greatly affect the quantitative results.
format Working Paper
author Caselli, Francesco
author_facet Caselli, Francesco
author_sort Caselli, Francesco
title Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later
title_short Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later
title_full Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later
title_fullStr Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later
title_full_unstemmed Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences : Ten Years Later
title_sort accounting for cross-country income differences : ten years later
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/199521487336202705/Accounting-for-cross-country-income-differences-ten-years-later
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26105
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