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Social and institutional factors as determinants of economic growth: Evidence from the United States counties *
Author(s) -
Rupasingha Anil,
Goetz Stephan J.,
Freshwater David
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/j.1435-5597.2002.tb01227.x
Subject(s) - ceteris paribus , economics , convergence (economics) , conditional convergence , social capital , demographic economics , per capita income , per capita , human capital , diversity (politics) , development economics , economic growth , demography , political science , sociology , population , law , microeconomics
In the search for explanations of persistent differences in economic growth rates, the conditional convergence growth model has introduced the possibility of incorporating a wide set of factors as determinants of growth. Controlling for spatial dependence, we assess the contribution of differences in social and institutional variables on growth rates of per capita income for counties in the United States. The empirical results indicate that, ceteris paribus , social and institutional variables explain some of the differences in convergence rates among counties. In particular, (i) ethnic diversity is associated with faster rates of economic growth; (ii) higher levels of income inequality are associated with lower rates; and (iii) higher levels of social capital have a positive effect on economic growth rates.