Growth Volatility and the Structure of the Economy

Davide Fiaschi and Andrea Lavezzi

Discussion Papers from Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Abstract: The aim of the paper is twofold: i) to propose a methodology to compute the growth rate volatility of an economy, and ii) to investigate the relationship between growth volatility and economic development through the lenses of the structural characteristics of an economy. We study a large cross-section of countries in the period 1970-2009, controlling for the stability of the estimates in two subperiods: 1970:1989 (Period I) and 1990:2009 (Period II). Our main findings are: i) the degree of trade openness has a destabilizing effect, while the degree of financial openness has not a significant effect; ii) the size of the public sector displays a U-shaped relationship with growth volatility, but only in Period II; iii) the level of financial development has a negative effect on growth volatility, but only in Period I. Therefore, the dominant policy orientations in the recent decades contained emphasis on potential sources of instability, e.g. on the increase in openness and on the reduction of the size of the public sector.

Keywords: growth volatility; economic development; economic structure; nonparametric methods. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 C21 O11 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-01-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg
Note: ISSN 2039-1854
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pie:dsedps:2011/117

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