Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas

Charles Jones

American Economic Review, 2002, vol. 92, issue 1, 220-239

Abstract: Rising educational attainment and research intensity in recent decades suggest that the U.S. economy is far from its steady state. This paper develops a model reconciling these facts with the stability of U.S. growth rates. In the model, long-run growth arises from the worldwide discovery of ideas, which depends on population growth. Nevertheless, constant growth can temporarily proceed at a faster rate, provided research intensity and educational attainment rise steadily over time. Growth accounting reveals that these factors explain 80 percent of recent U.S. growth, with less than 20 percent coming from world population growth. (JEL O40, E10)

Date: 2002
Note: DOI: 10.1257/000282802760015685
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (262)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/000282802760015685 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas (2000)
Working Paper: Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:92:y:2002:i:1:p:220-239

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().