This paper goes over some of the recent discussions on the effects on growth and poverty of institutions and policies, especially those that relate to the functioning of the private sector. It examines the empirical relationship between various measures of institutional quality and regulatory policies, and economic growth and poverty. The results suggest that good governance, as measured by a s...

The rapid transformation of the modern economies reveals the significance of knowledge, innovation and technology for economic growth. In Europe, the Lisbon Strategy set the very ambitious goal to “become the more competitive knowledge economy in the world by 2010” Besides public policies, the development of the knowledge economy calls for an educational reform with respect to the programs and ...

China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be as important to the 21 st century as its communist revolution was to the 20 th. Its rapid economic growth and increasing engagement with the world's economic and political communities are welcomed by some but viewed with concern by others. How will China use its newly acquired influence? Will it challenge the existing world order and i...

This article argues that the existing maze of pesticide policies reflects the multidimensionality of side effects of pesticide use that cannot be addressed by uniform policies. Pesticide policies will improve as (a) economic literacy among natural scientists and policymakers increases; (b) economic models of pesticide use and agricultural production in general better incorporate biological cons...

Environmental scientists play a key role in society's responses to environmental problems, and many of the studies they perform are intended ultimately to affect policy. The precautionary principle, proposed as a new guideline in environmental decision making, has four central components: taking preventive action in the face of uncertainty; shifting the burden of proof to the proponents of an a...

What factors influence state economic growth? This paper uses annual state (and local) data for the years 1947 to 1997 for the 48 contiguous states to estimate the effects of a large number of factors, including taxation and expenditure policies, on state economic growth. A special feature of the empirical work is the use of orthogonal distance regression (ODR) to deal with the likely presence ...

Galapagos is often cited as an example of the conflicts that are emerging between resource conservation and economic development in island ecosystems, as the pressures associated with tourism threaten nature, including the iconic and emblematic species, unique terrestrial landscapes, and special marine environments. In this paper, two projects are described that rely upon dynamic systems models...

The science policy of the United States federal government has undergone a series of changes in emphasis since the Second World War. Most of the debate about what federal science policy should be, has focused on two questions – what is the role of science and technology in national security and what is the role of science and technology in economic growth. This paper details the shift from mili...

E agree about the goals of price stability, low unemployment and stable economic growth, but they disagree about the policies to achieve these goals. The disagreement is particularly heated over discretionary countercyclical Keynesian fiscal policy. After the poor macroeconomic performance of the 1970s and critical policy evaluations of the Keynesian approach— ranging from Robert E. Lucas and T...

Without a radical change in monetary and fiscal policy, the United States will experience a higher ratio of deficits to GNP in the 1980s than it has in any decade since the 1940s. It is crucial to understand the risk that this poses to future economic growth, but as the following review of the literature indicates, economic research on the issue is in a primitive state. Precise answers are far ...