The Debate about the Sources of Growth in East Asia after a Quarter of a Century: much ado about nothing

dc.contributor.authorADB; Felipe, JesusMcCombie, John
dc.date.accessioned2021-10-05T15:02:17Z
dc.date.available2021-10-05T15:02:17Z
dc.date.issued2017-05
dc.descriptionThe 1990s witnessed perhaps one of the most important debates in the history of growth and development on the sources of growth in East Asia. This paper reviews what the profession has learnt during the last 25 years about East Asia’s growth using growth accounting exercises and estimations of production functions. The publication of Alwyn Young’s (1992, 1994, 1995) and Jong-Il Kim and Lawrence Lau’s (1994) studies, and Paul Krugman’s (1994) popularization of the “zero total factor productivity growth” thesis, led to a very important debate within the profession. The paper demystifies this literature by pointing out a major methodological problem inherent in these approaches. To grasp this literature and the debates it engendered, it is necessary to understand how the notion of productivity and technical progress it refers to is calculated. We show that total factor productivity calculated with value data is not a measure of productivity. We conclude that the debate about the sources of growth in East Asia was much ado about nothing.
dc.format.extent40
dc.identifier.isbnN/A
dc.identifier.isbnN/A
dc.identifier.issn23136537
dc.identifier.issn23136545
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.adb.org/publications/debate-sources-growth-east-asia
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14540/5217
dc.subject.otherEconomics
dc.subject.otherRegional cooperation and integration
dc.titleThe Debate about the Sources of Growth in East Asia after a Quarter of a Century: much ado about nothing
local.publication.countryChina
local.publication.countryPeople's Republic of
local.publication.countryHong Kong
local.publication.countryChina
local.publication.countryKorea
local.publication.countryRepublic of
local.publication.countryMongolia
local.publication.countryTaipei
local.publication.countryChina
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