Drivers of Growth: Technology, Policy, and Institutions
Multiple Choice Questions
1.Physical objects are rival in the n that:
a.They are nontrivial.
b.They are necessarily in opposition to one another.
c.When they are ud in one activity, they cannot be ud in another.
人民调解工作总结d.Some countries posss natural resources ,
< oil, while other countries do not.
2.The non-rivalrous character of technological ideas suggests that:
a.Ideas can be ud over and over again.
b.Patent law protection is ultimately inefficient.
c.Technological change follows a logarithmic pattern.
d.Technology developed in one industry,
< the vodka industry, cannot be ud in another industry, e.g.
the automobile industry.
3.Becau original ideas are likely to become known and ud by others without the inventor's knowledge or
connt:竹石的古诗
a.We refer to ideas as rival.
b.Technology is inherently exogenous.
c.New ideas contribute little to economic growth.
d.Technology is the key driver of economic growth.
4.Investments in public infrastructure:
a.May boost productivity and income.
b.Are not subject to diminishing returns.
c.Are a misallocation of national savings.
d.Typically decline during periods of rapid economic growth.
Drivers of Growth: Technology, Policy, and Institutions
5.Building infrastructure is left to the government becau:
a.Inflation tends to erode the real value of debt.
b.Borrowing costs make such projects prohibitively expensive.
c.The cost of such projects would not be economical for any individual firm.
d. A natural monopoly would result if this activity were undertaken by an individual private firm.
6. A key difference between human capital and technology is that:
a.Human capital is nonrival.
b.Human capital is excludable.
c.Technology is an input in the production of new technology.
d.Scarce resources are ud in the production of human capital.
7.Government spending on public health promotes economic productivity by:
a.Building infrastructure.
b.Increasing human capital.
c.Increasing national saving.
d.Encouraging rearch and development.
8.Private business tend to spend too little on rearch and development, becau:哄女朋友的睡前故事
a.Technology is often nonexcludable.
b.Patent laws make it difficult to reap the benefits of such spending.
c.Governments tend to spend too much on rearch and development.
d.Investments to increa the capital stock are a better way to boost productivity.
9.According to Nobel Prize winner Douglass North, the most important factor in limiting economic growth in
developing countries today is:
a.The relatively low level of saving.
b.The relatively high rate of inflation.
c.The inadequate state of the health care system.
d.The inability to develop effective low-cost contract enforcement.
初级月嫂>地壳变动Drivers of Growth: Technology, Policy, and Institutions
10.The Doing Business reports are considered by many economists to have contributed to economic growth and
poverty reduction. The effectiveness of the reports may be attributed to:
a.Their exposing of corrupt officials and practices.
b.Their deepening of economists' understanding of economic growth.
c.Their encouragement to governments to reduce impediments to business.
d.Their encouragement to business to migrate to business-friendly locations.
Discussion Questions
1.As an input to production, how does technology differ from labor and capital inputs?
As physical objects, labor and capital inputs are rival and excludable: They can only be ud in one
productive activity at a time, so that using them to produce one thing precludes their u to produce
something el, and they cannot be ud by producers who have not obtained permission to do so.
Technology (ideas) differs completely in the important characteristics. Ideas can be ud in more than one productive activity at the same time, and are more likely to be nonexcludable, so that other people can u them without permission or payment for their u. In the respects, technology has the
characteristics of public goods.
2.What government policies can be ud to promote productivity growth?
Government can promote productivity growth by designing policies that lead to more spending on
infrastructure, human capital, and rearch and development. The policies might take the form of
incread government spending in the areas or instead provide greater incentives for private
individuals and investors to undertake the incread expenditures.
3.Why may private R & D expenditures be too low?
Becau of the non-excludable nature of technology, many of the benefits of new technology will be忆组词语
external. This means that private business who invest in R&D will not get the full benefits of the new
technology they create and therefore may not expect to earn enough profits to justify the R&D
investment necessary to develop the new technology.
Drivers of Growth: Technology, Policy, and Institutions
4.What are property rights and how do they influence economic growth?
Property rights protect property owners from government and others that might want to extort their
wealth. They promote economic growth by providing incentives to save and invest and allocate capital to
its most productive us.
诗经取名女5.What role does the legal system play in promoting property rights?
Property rights are no better than the legal system that defines, interprets, and enforces them. To
promote strong property rights a society needs an effective legal system that enforces contracts,
has adequate resources (courts and judges) to hear and decide cas within a reasonable time, and
provides access to lawyers so aggrieved parties can have their day in court.
淘宝客服6.The U.S. government has provided billions of dollars for broadband Internet access nationwide, including
grants for rural broadband access, expansion of computer center capacity, and sustainable broadband adoption
initiatives. Is there a good rationale for such a policy? Discuss.
This is the U.S. government’s effort to support and expand broadband internet access across the United
States. The idea is to increa technology and to make each U.S. worker more productive. Easier and
faster internet access can reduce business’ costs, for example by allowing faster inventory updates. It
can also create opportunities for new business as the internet has already done for many entrepreneurs.
7.How might the effects of government spending on proper wage infrastructure, which results in improved
sanitation for crowded cities in poor countries, promote economic growth?
Government spending in infrastructure can increa productivity in many ways. Government spending
in education and health usually has high returns. Improving health conditions in poor countries’ c cities usually decreas the prevalence of transmissible dias like cholera. This reduces the costs
associated with treating patients at the same time it increas returns to education (e.g., children do not
miss as many school days as before). This results in a healthier and therefore more productive labor
force, increasing the balanced growth part of output per capita.
Drivers of Growth: Technology, Policy, and Institutions
8.The International Property Rights Index (IPRI) ranks countries according to the significance and protection of
both intellectual and physical property rights. What correlation between income-per-capita growth and the IPRI
ranking might you expect? Why?
We should expect that countries that have better designed and enforced property rights are the ones with
better standards of living. Properly enforcing property rights increas individuals’ and firms’recover their investment needed to advance technology. After the period from which the innovation is
made excludable by patents laws (or the enforcement of some other property right), technology spills
over and benefits the whole society, even the world. Countries in which individuals and firms have the
incentives to engage in R&D will benefit the most from this innovation process. As predicted, the IPRI
ranking and per capita income growth are strongly correlated.
9.Do you think corruption affects the enforcement of property rights or is it that badly designed institutions create
opportunities for corruption? In other words, does corruption determine the enforcement and design of property
rights or is it the other way around, with causality running from the design of property rights to corruption.
Explain your arguments.
Unfortunately there is no clear answer for this question. There are valid arguments for both positions.
The prevalence of corruption in a society makes the enforcement of property rights very difficult, as
government officials are often bribed in exchange for preferential treatments or concessions. Also, in a
society in which most people are corrupt it often pays off to behave as a corrupt individual, making this
problem even wor. It is also true, however, that badly designed institutions can promote corruption.
This is the ca when bureaucracies create positions (usually government officials) that create the
opportunity for individuals to exert some power. If you have to pay many licen fees to obtain a permit
to conduct your business, it is probable that the higher the number of licens you have to obtain at
different government offices, the more bribes you will be asked to pay. This is an example of a vicious
circle from which it is very difficult to escape. Poor countries often exhibit a combination of poorly
designed and enforced property rights and corruption.
Analytical Questions
The questions should be answered bad on the standard models of analysis developed in class.
The information in the various parts of the question is quential and cumulative.
