Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Real GDP per capita is the best measure of a country’s standard of living. Economic
growth occurs when real GDP per capita increases.
Productivity in Canada grew rapidly from the end of World War II until the mid-1970s,
then slowed down for twenty years, then slowed again after 1995.
Explain economic catch-up and discuss why many poor countries have not experienced
rapid economic growth.
Governments can attempt to increase economic growth through policies that enhance
property rights and the rule of law, improve health and education, subsidize research and
development, and provide incentives for savings and investment.
Key Terms
Catch-up, p. 191. The prediction that the level Economic growth model, p. 181. A model that
of GDP per capita (or income per capita) in poor explains growth rates in real GDP per capita
countries will grow faster than in rich countries. over the long run.
Foreign direct investment (FDI), p. 199. The technological change is influenced by economic
purchase or building by a corporation of a incentives and so is determined by the working
facility in a foreign country. of the market system.
Foreign portfolio investment, p. 199. The Patent, p. 187. The exclusive right to produce a
purchase by an individual or a firm of stocks or product for a period of 20 years from the date
bonds issued in another country. the patent is applied for.
Globalization, p. 199. The process of countries Per-worker production function, p. 182. The
becoming more open to foreign trade and relationship between real GDP per hour worked
investment. and capital per hour worked, holding the level of
technology constant.
Human capital, p. 182. The accumulated
knowledge and skills that workers acquire from Property rights, p. 196. The rights individuals
education and training or from their life or firms have to the exclusive use of their
experiences. property, including the right to buy or sell it.
Industrial Revolution, p. 177. The application Rule of law, p. 196. The ability of a government
of mechanical power to the production of goods, to enforce the laws of the country, particularly
beginning in England around 1750. with respect to protecting private property and
enforcing contracts.
Labour productivity, p. 181. The quantity of
goods and services that can be produced by one Technological change, p. 181. A change in the
worker or by one hour of work. quantity of output a firm can produce using a
given quantity of inputs.
New growth theory, p. 186. A model of long-
run economic growth that emphasizes that
Chapter Outline
Google’s Dilemma in China
When Google expanded into China in 2006, the government insisted that Google block searches of
sensitive topics and that it stop showing results from some foreign websites. In late 2009, hackers broke
into Google’s computer system and stole the company’s most important intellectual property. In 2010,
Google decided it would no longer cooperate with the Chinese government to censure Internet searches
and moved its Chinese search service to Hong Kong. China moved away from a centrally planned
economy in 1978, and its real GDP per capita has grown rapidly since. But China is not a democracy, and
the Chinese government has failed to fully establish the rule of law, particularly with respect to the
consistent enforcement of property rights. Without the rule of law, entrepreneurs cannot fulfill their role
in the market system of bringing together the factors of production to produce goods and services.
Economic Growth over Time and around the World (pages 176-181)
7.1 Learning Objective: Define economic growth, calculate economic growth rates, and
describe global trends in economic growth.
The differences in estimated real GDP for 1982 seem small, but how different would GDP be if these
growth rates continued through 2012?
Estimate real GDP for Canada if, from 1982 to 2012, the economy grew at three different growth rates:
(a) 1.3 percent annually, (b) 2.3 percent annually, and (c) 3.3 percent annually.
Source: Statistics Canada Table 380-0064.
The actual real GDP for 2012 was $1,302 billion, which corresponds to approximately 1.6
percent growth rate. This is about 60% of the estimated real GDP when assuming a 3.3
percent rate of growth, and is 81% of the estimated real GDP assuming a 2.3 percent rate of
growth. These calculations show how apparently small differences in growth rates,
compounded for just 31 years, can result in very different levels of real GDP.
The economic growth model explains growth rates in real GDP per capita over the long run. This model
focuses on the causes of long-run increases in labour productivity, which is the quantity of goods and
services that can be produced by one worker or by one hour of work. Economists believe that two key
factors determine labour productivity: the quantity of capital per hour worked and the level of technology.
Technological change is a change in the quantity of output a firm can produce using a given quantity of
inputs. There are three main sources of technological change:
1. Better machinery and equipment, such as the steam engine and computers.
2. Increases in human capital, which is the accumulated knowledge and skills that workers acquire
from education and training or from their life experiences.
3. Better means of organizing and managing production, such as the just-in-time system firms use to
assemble goods from parts that arrive at the factory at the exact time needed.
A country’s standard of living will be higher the more capital workers have available on their jobs, the
better the capital, the more human capital workers have, and the better job business managers do in
organizing production.
1. Protecting intellectual property with patents and copyrights. A patent is the exclusive right to
produce a new product for a period of twenty years from the date the patent is applied for.
3. Subsidizing education.
These policies can bring the accumulation of knowledge capital closer to the optimal level.
entrepreneur is central to economic growth. Successful entrepreneurs can use their profits to finance the
development of new products.
The economic growth model can help us understand the record of growth in Canada.
productivity growth allowed employers to increase production without increasing employment. Although
employment growth subsequently increased, the concern expressed for workers’ jobs highlights two
different views of productivity. In the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Economic Letter,
Carl Walsh wrote,
If higher productivity allows firms to shed workers, how can it raise wages and living
standards? If productivity does lead to improved wages and living standards, why do so many
feel the recent productivity growth has left workers behind?
Walsh notes that productivity growth and changes in technology cause structural changes that result in
increased production and employment in some industries and reductions in production and employment in
other industries. For example, the growth in demand for word processors and personal computers resulted
in a decline in the demand for typewriters and some types of office workers. Small changes in overall
employment mask what often are large increases in employment and unemployment in individual
industries. In other words, the negative effect of productivity on employment occurs in the short run,
while the positive effect of productivity on employment occurs in the long run.
Source: Carl E. Walsh, “The Productivity and Jobs Connection: The Long and the Short of It.” FRBSF Economic Letter. July 16,
2004.
The average annual growth rate of real GDP per hour worked from 1950 to 1972 was 2.8 percent.
Examine the fluctuations in the annual unemployment rate for this period in Figure 7.5 in the textbook. Is
the behaviour of the unemployment rate consistent with Carl Walsh’s explanation of the effect of
productivity growth on employment when we look at Canadian data?
Extra Making
Productivity Gains Help Make U.S. Manufacturers
the
More Competitive
Connection
It’s a story all too familiar to many Americans: Caterpillar, the world’s largest manufacturer of
construction and industrial mining equipment, tried to persuade workers at one of the company’s U.S.
locomotive-assembly plants to accept lower wages in order to reduce its wage and benefit costs, which
were much higher than they were at a Caterpillar plant in another country. What was different about the
story was the location of the two plants: Wage and benefit costs at Caterpillar’s rail-equipment plant in
LaGrange, Illinois, were less than half of those at the company’s locomotive-assembly plant in Ontario.
Navistar International Corp., formerly the International Harvester Company, manufactures diesel engines,
buses, and other business equipment. Navistar also sought to lower costs at its plant in Ontario. After
failing to reach an acceptable agreement for more-flexible work rules and lower wage costs with the
Canadian Auto Workers, the company decided to relocate the plant to Springfield, Ohio. Navistar’s Chief
Executive Dan Ustian commented, “I am a firm believer that North America and the U.S. can be very
competitive in manufacturing, especially when it is a technical kind of job.” Bridgestone Corp. of Japan
spent over $1 billion to expand a plant in South Carolina that makes radial tires. Gary Garfield, CEO of
Bridgestone’s Americas unit, explained that the higher productivity of U.S. workers trumped lower labour
costs in other potential plant locations in Mexico or other Latin American countries.
What has made U.S. manufacturers more efficient and more competitive in recent years? The recession of
2007–2009 slowed the growth of wages, and many firms have incorporated flexible work practices and
increased automation in order to increase productivity. As a result, U.S. productivity in 2010 grew by
more than 4 percent and averaged over 2.5 percent over the previous ten years. Labour costs actually
decreased by 13 percent among U.S. manufacturers from 2000 to 2010. Over this same period, unit labour
costs rose in Germany (by 2.3 percent), in Canada (by 18 percent), and in South Korea (by 15 percent).
Other factors that contributed to holding down U.S. manufacturing costs include lower energy prices, due
mostly to increased production of natural gas from shale, and a lower exchange rate for the dollar.
A report by the Conference Board of Canada suggests that Canada’s lower productivity, relative to the
United States is a result of lower levels of innovation in this country as well as lower levels of investment
in both human and physical capital particularly with respect to STEM subjects and information and
communications technology.
Sources: James R. Haberty and Kate Linebaugh, “In U.S., a Cheaper Labor Pool,” Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2012; Erik
Brynjolfsson, “Not All the Economic News is Bad,” digitopoly.org, October 27, 2011, and “Labour Productivity Growth” The
Conference Board of Canada 2013.
The economic growth model tells us that economies grow when the quantity of capital per hour worked
increases and when technological change takes place. The profitability of using additional capital or better
technology is generally greater in a developing country than in a high-income country. The economic
growth model predicts that poor countries will grow faster than rich countries. Catch-up is the prediction
that the level of GDP per capita (or income per capita) in poor countries will grow faster than in rich
countries. The paradox is that lower-income industrial countries have been catching up to the higher-
income industrial countries, but the developing countries as a group have not been catching up to the
high-income countries as a group.
B. Why Haven’t Most Western European Countries, Canada, and Japan Caught Up
to the United States?
Over the past 20 years, other high-income countries have fallen further behind the United States. Real
GDP per capita in Canada, Japan, and the five largest countries in Western Europe increased relative to
the United States between 1960 to 1990, but none of these countries has experienced catch-up since 1990.
Many economists believe there are two explanations for the failure of these countries to catch-up with the
United States: The greater flexibility of U.S. labour markets and the greater efficiency of the U.S.
financial system.
1. Failure to enforce the rule of law, which is the ability of a government to enforce the laws of the
country, particularly with respect to protecting private property and enforcing contracts
Property rights are the rights individuals or firms have to the exclusive use of their property, including
the right to buy or sell it.
Foreign portfolio investment is the purchase by an individual or a firm of stock or bonds issued in
another country. Globalization is the process of countries becoming more open to foreign trade and
investment.
The rising incomes that result from economic growth can help developing countries deal with brain drain.
Brain drain refers to highly educated and successful individuals leaving developing countries for high-
income countries.
In Canada and developed countries most economists support three government policies that encourage the
production and dissemination of new knowledge:
Romer warns that it is important to limit government’s power over economic policy. He states that most
economists favour government subsidies for education and private research, but if government officials
have power over economic policy, they may use that power to divert the results of research to narrow
special interests.
Source: Paul M. Romer, “Economic Growth,” The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
http://wwweconlib.org/library/Enc/EconomicGrowth.html.
a. Why do economists believe that government should subsidize education and basic research?
b. Paul Romer warns that government officials may use their power to divert the results of research
to narrow special interests. Explain Romer’s concern.
Extra Making
The Role of Local Government in Promoting Economic
the
Growth in China
Connection
For over two decades, economic growth in China has been among the highest of any nation, often
exceeding 7 to 9 percent annually. A key to achieving economic growth in a market economy is
protection of rights to private property. However, China has a relatively weak judicial system and a poor
property rights environment. An explanation for China’s success in attracting private investment despite a
poor track record in protecting property rights is offered by X. Zhang, who argues that local Chinese
governments engage in vigorous competition for investment that benefits their own jurisdictions. The
uncertainty of doing business is very high, and as a result, the cost of completing contracts is high as well.
To overcome these obstacles, businesses often partner with local government officials who work hard to
provide a stable environment for these businesses and provide protection from local government
regulations. The result is strong protection for investors within a weak system of protection of property
rights for rural landowners. Farmers and other Chinese citizens are often forced to sell their rights to land
for allegedly “public purposes”—that is, for new private businesses. Although this system has produced
considerable prosperity for China, it has come at the expense of increased social tension, especially
among current and former landowners. It may be difficult to sustain China’s high rate of economic
growth far into the future without addressing this potential source of social conflict.
Source: Karol Boudreaux and Paul Dragos Aligica, “Legislation and creation by fiat,” in Paths to Property (London: The Institute of
Economic Affairs, 2007), pp. 65–66.
Question: China has been enjoying higher economic growth for the past decade than has Canada. How can
China’s rapid economic growth affect your welfare (assuming you live in Canada)?
Answer: The fact that China is experiencing rapid economic growth allows firms located in China to
manufacture more products at a lower cost. So consumers in Canada are able to buy lower-priced imports
from China, while growing prosperity in China will encourage consumers and firms to buy more products
from other countries, including Canada. Of course, some firms and workers in Canada will be made
worse off if these firms close as a result of competition from Chinese firms.
2. A “flimsy social safety net” means that China lacks a strong system of unemployment benefits
and payments to the disabled and elderly, like the Social Security system in Canada and the United States.
Because households in China cannot rely on the government for financial support if they lose their jobs,
become disabled, or want to retire, they have a strong incentive to save, rather than spend, a large fraction
of their incomes. So, compared with Canada, the United States, and other high-income countries, we
would expect saving rates to be higher in China.
Review Questions
Economic Growth over Time and around the World
7.1 Learning Objective: Define economic growth, calculate economic growth rates, and
describe global trends in economic growth.
Review Questions
1.1 A country’s economic growth matters because living standards tend to rise with economic
growth. Higher economic growth provides a country with more opportunities to improve the lives of its
citizens by, for example, increasing average life expectancy.
1.2 The total percentage increase is the percentage increase in real GDP from 2002 to 2012. It is not
an annual growth rate. The average annual growth rate is the growth rate at which the value for real GDP
in 2002 would have to grow on average each year to end up with the value for real GDP in 2012.
2.1 Diminishing returns to capital imply that, holding technology constant, additional capital per hour
worked results in smaller and smaller increases in real GDP per hour worked. Therefore, sustained
increases in real GDP per hour worked require more than continuing increases in capital per hour worked.
To maintain high growth rates despite diminishing returns to capital, economies must experience
technological change.
2.2 Firms are likely to underinvest in research and development because other firms will gain much
of the additional return from the research and development. To increase the accumulation of knowledge
capital, governments can protect intellectual property with patents and copyrights, subsidize research and
development, and subsidize education.
2.3 The new growth theory is a model of long-run economic growth that emphasizes that
technological change is affected by economic incentives and so is determined by the working of the
market system. The Solow growth theory does not seek to explain what determines technological change,
but instead assumes that technological change occurs because of chance scientific discoveries. The new
growth theory, besides seeking to explain factors that influence technological change, incorporates
knowledge capital and its increasing returns to the economy.
3.1 The growth rate of productivity increased from 1870 through the mid-1970s, then slowed
somewhat for the next 40 years. The slowdown in productivity growth most likely resulted from the
measurement problem of the economy producing a larger share of services relative to goods and from
stricter environmental and health standards that may have increased overall well-being but not measured
GDP. In response to higher oil prices, some firms switched to production technologies that were less
energy intensive but which also produced less output per worker hour. The scores on some standardized
exams declined during this time period, which may indicate a declining quality of the labour force.
Lower-quality workers may have more difficulty adapting to new technology, which could reduce the
growth rate of productivity. Beginning in 1995, the rapid spread of information technology may have
spurred productivity increases.
4.1 Increases in the quantity of capital per hour worked and the adoption of new technology should
occur at a high rate in poor countries, because the profitability of using additional capital or better
technology is generally greater in a poor country than in a rich country. Some poor countries have been
catching up to rich countries, but many have not.
4.2 In many European countries, government regulations make it difficult for firms to fire workers
and thereby make firms reluctant to hire workers. Many younger workers find a job and tend to remain in
the job even if their skills do not match up with the characteristics of the job, which decreases labour
productivity. Many European countries also have work rules that restrict the tasks firms can ask workers
to perform and the number of hours they can work. These work rules reduce the ability of firms to use
new technologies that require workers to learn new skills, perform new tasks, or work during the night or
early morning. Most Western European countries also have more extensive unemployment compensation,
which tends to increase the unemployment rate and the fraction of the labour force that is unemployed for
more than one year, which tends to decrease the rate of growth of labour productivity.
The level of legal protection of investors in North American financial markets encourages both North
American and foreign investors to buy stocks and bonds issued by firms in North America, allowing firms
to obtain funds needed for investment and implementation of new technologies. Additionally, the ability
of venture capital firms to finance technology-driven start-up firms may give Canada and the United
States an advantage in bringing new products and new processes to market.
4.3 The main reasons many poor countries have experienced slow growth are the failure to enforce
the rule of law, wars and revolutions, poor public education and health, and low rates of saving and
investment.
4.4 Globalization refers to the process of countries becoming more open to foreign trade and
investment. Globalization can help a developing country break out of the vicious cycle of low saving and
investment and low growth by providing access to funds and technology from foreign direct investment
and foreign portfolio investment.
5.1 Governments can aid economic growth through policies that enhance property rights and the rule
of law, improve health and education, subsidize research and development, and provide incentives for
saving and investment.
5.2 Economic growth is associated with higher living standards, improved health, improved working
conditions, and longer life expectancy. However, some policymakers and commentators argue that
economic growth has been contributing to income inequality, global warming, deforestation, and other
environmental problems. Whether continued economic growth will always improve economic well-being
is a normative question and cannot be settled by economic analysis.
1.1 The finding of the importance of market efficiency in long-run economic growth by Shiue and
Keller supports North’s argument that a government can promote economic growth by protecting private
property rights and wealth, as the British government did beginning with the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
a. During 2008, Brazil experienced the highest economic growth rate of 5.16 percent.
b. During 2009, Mexico experienced the worst economic recession with real GDP declining by
6.16 percent.
c. Between 2008 and 2010, Brazil experienced the highest average annual growth rate of 4.00
percent.
d. It does not matter that each country’s real GDP is measured in a different currency. Growth
rates are measured as percentage changes, which are not dependent on the specific currency
being used.
1.3 You will have earned more on your Andover Bank CDs due to the compounding earned in 2012
and 2013 on the extra $30 earned on the Andover Bank CD in 2011.
1.4
Real GDP per capita Annual
Year (2000 prices) growth rate
2006 $43,332
2007 43,726 0.91%
2008 43,178 −1.25
2009 41,313 −4.32
2010 42,205 2.16
a. The percentage increase in real GDP per capita between 2006 and 2010 was
$42,205 − $43,332
× 100 = − 2.60%
$43,332 .
b. The average annual growth rate in GDP per capita between 2006 and 2010 can be measured as
the average of the annual growth rates in the above table, which is −0.63 percent.
1.5 a. Real GDP per capita most likely did not increase significantly from the near elimination of
measles and the large decrease in childhood deaths, but the standard of living measured in
terms of health did increase significantly. One reason why falling infant and childhood
mortality could contribute to lowering GDP per capita is that lower mortality results in a larger
population and therefore a higher denominator in the GDP per capita ratio. The reduction in
disease would also mean that resources could be used for purposes other than treating disease,
which would raise living standards; and for a given level of food intake, net nutrition increases
with lower incidence of disease. These last considerations indicate reductions in disease may
lay the foundation for future increases in real GDP per capita.
b. For a developing country, the elimination of measles and childhood deaths from diarrhea is
more achievable than sustained increases in real GDP per capita. Fewer additional resources
and less time are required to achieve the elimination of disease than the additional investment
and the institutional changes needed for sustained increases in real GDP per capita.
1.6 If ideas and inventions, such as the importance of ABCs and vaccines for DPT (diphtheria,
pertussis, and tetanus), flow more readily than process technologies, such as laws and inventory
management systems, then low-income countries will be able to increase their standard of living as
measured by health and education faster than they will be able to increase real GDP per capita.
2.1 Changes in work rules represent a better means of organizing and managing production, which
economists consider an improvement in technology.
(b) and (c) result in a shift in the per-worker production function because they are likely to lead to
technological change, or an increase in real GDP per hour worked, holding capital per hour
worked constant.
2.3 a. False, because technology is assumed constant along a given per-worker production function.
b. False, because the movement from point B to point C represents technological change, which
occurs despite the existence of diminishing returns to capital.
c. True, because point C represents both a higher level of capital per worker and a higher level of
technology than point A.
2.4 This strategy ran into the problem of diminishing returns to capital. The policy of very high rates
of investment with little emphasis on technological change meant that the capital stock was increasing
much more rapidly than technology. Continuing rapid increases in capital per hour worked led only to
diminishing increases in output per hour worked. With these diminishing marginal returns, the growth
rate of real GDP per capita stagnated.
2.5 In the traditional economic growth model, technological change is exogenous. This means that
the traditional model does not try to explain technological change. Technological change is endogenous in
the new growth theory, and entrepreneurs play a key role in the development and adoption of new
technology.
2.6 Because even though they are not spending their own money, salaried managers in Canada are
judged by the profitability of the company, which often depends on the adoption of new technologies.
3.1 The growth rates might be lower if they were calculated for real GDP per capita instead of per
hour worked because the number of hours worked per person in Canada has decreased in the years since
1900.
3.2 Because labour productivity is measured by real GDP per hour worked, an increase in labour
productivity means that workers are able to increase per hour production. If labour productivity increased
while output, or real GDP, decreased, this indicates that the hours devoted to production were decreasing.
More productive workers working fewer hours will increase labour productivity but may also decrease
output.
3.4 Future labour productivity growth rates will decline if Gordon’s observations are correct. The
higher labour productivity growth rates that began in the mid-1990s were due partly to advances in
information and communication technology. To the extent that these advances have moved more to
consumer enjoyment rather than business productivity, then labour productivity growth rates will decline.
4.1 The catch-up effect predicts that countries with a lower level of GDP per capita will grow faster
than countries with a higher level of GDP per capita. In the table, China’s GDP per capita in 1960 was the
lowest at $363 and its growth between 1960 and 2009 was the highest at an average annual rate of 6.23
percent, which is consistent with the catch-up prediction. On the other hand, some countries with
relatively low GDP per capita in 1960, such as Uganda and Madagascar, also experienced relatively low
growth rates, which is not consistent with the catch-up prediction.
4.2 a. No, these data do not support the catch-up prediction. The countries with the highest initial
levels of real GDP per capita have growth rates of real GDP per capita similar to the countries
with average initial levels of real GDP per capita.
b. Yes, these data support the catch-up prediction. The countries with the lowest initial levels of
real GDP per capita have the highest growth rates of real GDP per capita, and the countries
with the highest initial levels of real GDP per capita have the lowest growth rates of real GDP
per capita.
c. No, these data do not support the catch-up prediction. The countries have roughly the same
growth rates of real GDP per capita regardless of their initial levels of real GDP per capita.
4.3 Globalization makes it possible for poor countries to attract foreign investment and gain access to
the best technology. Without the free flow of trade and investment that globalization represents, poor
countries would have to rely primarily on their own resources. Refer to Figure 7.10 for the relationship
between the level of globalization and the growth rate of real GDP per capita.
4.4 The observation that “Ecuador and Colombia both have perfectly clean parking slates, despite the
experts’ view of them as fairly corrupt places,” does not invalidate Fisman’s and Miguel’s conclusions
about whether the parking violations data provide evidence in favour of there being a culture of
corruption in some countries. Fisman and Miguel found that as the level of corruption in a country
increases, so does the number of parking violations by the country’s United Nations delegates. They
found that the 15 percent of countries that are most corrupt had more than ten times as many parking
violations as the 15 percent of countries that are least corrupt. Just because their observation does not hold
in 100 percent of cases does not mean that the observation is not valid. Despite a few exceptions, in
general, the statistics support Fisman’s and Miguel’s observation.
4.5 For the most part, the Roman Empire lacked the secure private property rights required for a
market system to work. If modern economic growth had begun 1700 years earlier than it did, the standard
of living today would be many times higher than it is.
5.1 Limits on political freedom could eventually become an obstacle to China’s continued rapid
economic growth. The failure of the Chinese government to fully establish the rule of law, particularly
with respect to the consistent enforcement of property rights, makes it more difficult for entrepreneurs to
fulfill their role in the market system in bringing together the factors of production to produce goods and
services. Further, whether increased political freedom comes gradually or through a violent revolution
would affect growth.
5.2 The lower birthrate will lead to a lower proportion of workers in their twenties and thirties, and a
higher proportion of workers in their sixties and older. The older workers as a group will be less educated,
less healthy, and less productive. High rates of spending on investment will lead to high rates of growth in
the short run, but not the long run, because of diminishing returns to capital. The increased spending on
investment moves China along its per-worker production function but does not shift up the function.
Ultimately, China will need to achieve technological advance, which will shift up the per-worker
production function.
5.3 It is likely to be easier for the typical developing country to improve the state of public health
than to improve the average level of education. Improvement in public health involves increased
vaccinations against infectious diseases, improved access to treated water, and improved sanitation.
Improving the average level of education, on the other hand, typically requires building new and better
schools, purchasing textbooks and other educational materials, and hiring large numbers of teachers. The
expense and organizational resources involved have often made it difficult for developing countries to
significantly improve the average level of education.
5.4 a. The passage of an investment tax credit is likely to increase the rate of economic growth in
Canada because the credit will give firm an incentive to purchase more capital, thereby
increasing the capital to labour ratio (K/L).
b. Deductibility of provincial taxes is unrelated to any of the factors that cause economic growth.
c. Providing more funds for low-interest loans to college students is likely to increase the rate of
economic growth in Canada. When more students receive a college education, the level of
human capital increases, which is a form of technological improvement.
5.5 A free press could serve as a watchdog against corruption, which undermines the rule of law and
property rights. Over time, crusading newspapers could help reduce corruption and improve the rule of
law.
5.6 The environment might be considered as a “normal good,” whose demand increases as
consumers’ incomes increase. From this perspective, more people in high-income countries than in low-
income countries tend to be concerned about the environment and thus consider rapid economic growth
less desirable.