Patience and prosperity

Holger Strulik

Journal of Economic Theory, 2012, vol. 147, issue 1, 336-352

Abstract: This paper introduces wealth-dependent time preference into a simple model of endogenous growth. The model generates adjustment dynamics in line with the historical facts on savings and economic growth in Europe from the High Middle Ages to today. Along a virtuous cycle of development more wealth leads to more patience, which leads to more savings and further increasing wealth. Savings rates and income growth rates are thus jointly increasing during the process of development until they converge towards constants along a balanced growth path. During the transition to modern growth an economy in which the association of wealth and patience is stronger overtakes an otherwise identical economy and generates temporarily diverging growth rates.

Keywords: Economic growth; Savings; Time preference; Poverty trap; Moral consequences of economic growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D90 O11 O41 P48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Patience and Prosperity (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:1:p:336-352

DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2011.10.008

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