Summer School 2012

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in the determinants of long-term economic growth by academic researchers and policy makers alike. Following one earlier path-breaking work, some of this generation’s most prominent economists have tackled this topic producing a plethora of academic articles and a number of notable books. Books on this subject fall broadly into three categories. First, introductions to the subject accessible to advanced undergraduate students or beginning graduate students in the form of textbooks. These include Introduction to Economic Growth by Charles Jones (Norton: 2002), Principles of Economic Growth by Thorvaldur Gylfason (Oxford: 1999), Growth and Distribution by Duncan Foley and Thomas Michl (Harvard: 1999) and Economic Growth by David Weil (Addison-Wesley: 2012). Second, general treatments of economic growth in the form of personal narratives or collected essays such as The Elusive Quest for Growth by William Easterly (MIT: 2001), In Search of Prosperity edited by Dani Rodrik (Princeton: 2003) and The Mystery of Economic Growth by Elhanan Helpman (Harvard: 2004). Finally, comprehensive and rigorous treatments of the subject addressed to advanced graduate students such as Economic Growth by Robert Barro and Xavier Sala-i-Martin (MIT: 2004), Endogenous Growth Theory by Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt (MIT: 1998) and, at a somewhat lower technical level, The Economics of Growth by the same two authors (MIT: 2009), and finally Introduction to Modern Economic Growth by Daron Acemoglu (Princeton: 2009).
What all these books share, however, is their comprehensive treatment of all aspects of economic growth. Though excellent in many ways, these books provide a general overview of each aspect of growth. What is clearly missing is an in depth treatment of individual aspects of long run economic growth. One of the most frequent topics tackled by these books is the role of human capital accumulation in economic growth. The popularity and importance of this topic is also witnessed by the large number of articles appearing in academic journals: a search revealed 20 articles published in the major international journals on human capital and growth during the 2002–2003 period alone. A relatively new but very widely respected journal (Journal of Economic Growth) is devoted entirely to the subject of economic growth, in general, and frequently contains articles on the human capital-growth link. At the public policy level, exhortations by officials on the importance of human capital formation in fostering economic growth appear continuously in the financial press. A course on the role of human capital in economic growth would be timely and well received by students. We plan to follow a new book that covers the main topics outlined above by Savvides and Stengos (Stanford University Press: 2008).

INSTRUCTORS:
 Alessandra Pelloni, University of Rome and RCEA – Thanasis Stengos, University of Guelph and RCEA