Share:


Growth and structural changes in transition countries: the chicken or the egg?

    Magdalena Olczyk   Affiliation
    ; Aleksandra Kordalska   Affiliation

Abstract

The objective of this study is to test empirically the relationship between structural changes (changes in gross value added and employment) and economic growth. We used a panel Granger-causality analysis based on annual data for eight transition countries, covering the period 1995–2011. The main finding is that the causality relations analysed are heterogeneous processes and are identified more often when we measure structural changes by value added than by changes in employment. Among the countries analysed, we separate a subgroup of economies with very strong bilateral causality (small countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia), a subgroup in which no causal relationships are observed (e.g., Hungary in the case of employment), and a group with a one-directional relationship (e.g., Poland, where GDP changes cause employment changes, but not vice versa). The research results point to the necessity of taking into account different relationships, whether one- or two-directional, between growth and structural changes in government economic policy. The paper presents a verifiable methodology, which was originally used to identify the analysed relationship in transition countries.

Keyword : CEE countries, economic growth, Granger causality, industries, panel data, structural changes

How to Cite
Olczyk, M., & Kordalska, A. (2018). Growth and structural changes in transition countries: the chicken or the egg?. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 19(3), 544-565. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2018.6580
Published in Issue
Nov 19, 2018
Abstract Views
976
PDF Downloads
769
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Acemoglu, D., & Guerrieri, V. (2008). Capital deepening and nonbalanced economic growth. Journal of Political Economy, 116(3), 467-498. https://doi.org/10.1086/589523

Aghion, P., & Howitt, P. (1998). Endogenous growth theory. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Aiginger, K. (2001). Speed of change and growth of manufacturing. In M. Peneder, K. Aiginger, & M. Marterbauer (Eds.), Structural changes and economic growth (pp. 53-86). Vienna: Austrian Institute of Economic Research.

Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277-297. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297968

Arellano, M., & Bover, O. (1995). Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-compo-nents models. Journal of Econometrics, 68(1), 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(94)01642-D

Ball, L., Jalles, J. T., & Loungani, P. (2015). Do forecasters believe in Okun’s Law? An assessment of unemployment and output forecasts. International Journal of Forecasting, 31(1), 176-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2014.03.009

Baltagi, B. H. (2008). Econometric analysis of panel data. Chichester: Wiley.

Baumol, W. J. (1967). Macroeconomics of unbalanced growth: the anatomy of urban crisis. American Economic Review, 57(3), 415-426.

Baumol, W. J., Blackman, S. A. B., & Wolff, E. N. (1985). Unbalanced growth revisited: asymptotic stagnancy and new evidence. American Economic Review, 75(4), 806-817.

Beck, N., & Katz, J. (2009). Modeling dynamics in time-series–cross-section political economy data. Annual Review of Political Science, 14, 331-352. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-071510-103222

Białowąs, T. (2016). Zmiany strukturalne a wzrost gospodarczy krajów Europy Środkowej. Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 14(5), 121-139 (in Polish).

Blundell, R., & Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of Econometrics, 87(1), 115-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(98)00009-8

Breitung, J. (2001). The local power of some unit root tests for panel data. In B. H. Baltagi, T. B. Fomby, & R. C. Hill (Eds.), Nonstationary panels, panel cointegration, and dynamic panels advances in econometrics (pp. 161-177). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Bruno, G. S. F. (2005). Estimation and inference in dynamic unbalanced panel-data models with a small number of individuals. Stata Journal, 5(4), 473-500.

Caselli, F., & Coleman, W. J. (2001). Cross-country technology diffusion: the case of computers. American Economic Review, 91(2), 328-335. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.2.328

Chamberlain, G. (1984). Panel data. In Z. Griliches & M. D. Intriligator (Eds.), Handbook of Econometrics, 2, 1247-1318.

Chenery, H. (1960). Patterns of industrial growth. American Economic Review, 50(4), 624-654.

Chenery, H. B., Robinson, S., & Syrquin, M. (1986). Industrialization and growth: a comparative study. Washington DC: World Bank.

Choe, J. I. (2003). Do foreign direct investment and gross domestic investment promote economic growth? Review of Development Economics, 7(1), 44-57. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9361.00174

Clark, C. (1940). The conditions of economic progress. London: Macmillan.

Cortuk, O., & Singh, N. (2010). Structural change and growth in India. Working Papers, UC Santa Cruz Economics Department 663.

Dietrich, A. (2012). Does growth cause structural change, or is it the other way around? A dynamic panel data analysis for seven OECD countries. Empirical Economics, 43(3), 915-944. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-011-0510-z

Dumitrescu, E., & Hurlin, C. (2012). Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic Modelling, 29(4), 1450-1460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2012.02.014

Echevarria, C. (1997). Changes in sectoral composition associated with economic growth. International Economic Review, 38(2), 431-452. https://doi.org/10.2307/2527382

Eichengreen, B., Park, D., & Shin, K. (2012). When fast-growing economies slow down: international evidence and implications for China. Asian Economic Papers, 11(1), 42-87. https://doi.org/10.1162/ASEP_a_00118

Erdil, E., & Yetkiner, I. H. (2009). The Granger-causality between health care expenditure and output: a panel data approach. Applied Economics, 41(4), 511-518. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036840601019083

Felipe, J., Kumar, U., & Abdon, A. (2012). How rich countries became rich and why poor countries remain poor: it’s the economic structure… duh! Working Paper No. 644. Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.

Fisher, A. G. B. (1939). Production: primary, secondary and tertiary. Economic Record, 15(1), 24-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.1939.tb01015.x

Fourastié, J. (1949). Le grand espoir du XXe siècle. Progrès technique, progrès économique, progrès social. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Granger, C. W. J. (1969). Investigating causal relations by econometric models and cross-spectral methods. Econometrica, 37(3), 424-438. https://doi.org/10.2307/1912791

Grossmann, G., & Helpman, H. (1991). Innovation and growth in the global economy. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Havlik, P. (2013). Structural change and economic growth in the new EU member states. GRINCOH Working Paper P1.4. Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.

Holtz-Eakin, D., Newey, W., & Rosen, H. (1985). Implementing causality tests with panel data, with an example from local public finance. NBER Technical Working Papers, No. 0048.

Hsiao, C. (1989). Modelling Ontario regional electricity system demand using a mixed fixed and random coefficients approach. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 19(4), 565-587. https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-0462(89)90020-3

Hurlin, C., & Venet, B. (2001). Granger causality tests in panel data models with fixed coefficients. EURIs-CO Université Paris Dauphine.

Hurlin, C. (2004). Testing Granger causality in heterogeneous panel data models with fixed coefficients. University Orléans.

Im, K. S., Pesaran, M. H., & Shin, Y. (2003). Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels. Journal of Econometrics, 115(1), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(03)00092-7

Ishikawa, S. (1987). Structural change. In J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, & P. Newman (Eds.), The new Palgrave: A dictionary of economics, 4, 523-525. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1775-1

Islam, N. (2001). Small sample performance of dynamic panel data estimators in estimating the growth-convergence equation: a Monte Carlo study. In B. H. Baltagi, T. B. Fomby, & R. Carter Hill (Eds.), Nonstationary panels, panel cointegration, and dynamic panels (pp. 317-339). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Kiviet, J. F. (1995). On bias, inconsistency, and efficiency of various estimators in dynamic panel data models. Journal of Econometrics, 68(1), 53-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(94)01643-E

Kiviet, J. F. (1999). Expectation of expansions for estimators in a dynamic panel data model; some results for weakly exogenous regressors. In C. Hsiao, K. Lahiri, L.-F. Lee, & M. H. Pesaran (Eds.), Analysis of panel data and limited dependent variables (pp. 199-225). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511493140.010

Kongsamut, P., Rebelo, S., & Xie, D. (2001). Beyond balanced growth. Review of Economic Studies, 68(4), 869-882. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-937X.00193

Kuznets, S. (1959). On comparative study of economic structure and growth of nations. In R. W. Goldsmith (Ed.), The comparative study of economic growth and structure (pp. 162-176). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Laitner, J. (2000). Structural change and economic growth. Review of Economic Studies, 67(3), 545-561. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-937X.00143

Lilien, D. M. (1982). Sectoral shifts and cyclical unemployment. Journal of Political Economy, 90(4), 777-793. https://doi.org/10.1086/261088

Lucas, R. (1988). On the mechanics of economic development. Journal of Monetary Economics, 22(1), 3-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3932(88)90168-7

Machlup, F. (1967). Essays in economic semantics. New York: W.W. Norton.

Mahmood, T., & Linden, M. (2017). Structural change and economic growth in Schengen region. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 7(1), 303-311.

Matsuyama, K. (2008). Structural change. In S. N. Durlauf, & L. E. Blume (Eds.), The new Palgrave dictionary of economics (2nd ed.) (pp. 136-153). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1775-2

Moon, H. R., & Perron, B. (2004). Testing for a unit root in panels with dynamic factors. Journal of Econometrics, 122(1), 81-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2003.10.020

Nair-Reichert, U., & Weinhold, D. (2001). Causality tests for cross-country panels: a new look at FDI and economic growth in developing countries. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 63(2), 153-171. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0084.00214

Ngai, L. R., & Pissarides, C. A. (2007). Structural change in a multisector model of growth. American Economic Review, 97(1), 429-443. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.97.1.429

Nickell, S. (1981). Biases in dynamic models with fixed effects. Econometrica, 49(6), 1417-1426. https://doi.org/10.2307/1911408

Nurkse, R. (1953). Problems of capital formation in underdeveloped countries. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

OECD. (2016). Promoting productivity and equality: a twin challenge. OECD Economic Outlook, 2016(1), 59-84. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/oecd-economic-outlook-volume-2016-issue-1/promoting-productivity-and-equality-a-twin-challenge_eco_outlook-v2016-1-3-en/

Ohno, K. (2009). Avoiding the middle income trap: renovating industrial policy formulation in Vietnam. ASEAN Economic Bulletin, 26(1), 25-43. https://doi.org/10.1355/AE26-1C

Pasinetti, L. L. (1981). Structural change and economic growth: a theoretical essay on the dynamics of the wealth of nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pesaran, H. (2003). A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross section dependence. Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0346, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.457280

Pissarides, C. (1990). Equilibrium unemployment theory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Raffinot, M., & Venet, B. (2017). Low income countries, credit rationing and debt relief: bye bye international financial market? Retrieved from https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01489954/

Romer, P. M. (1990). Endogenous technical changes. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), 71-102. https://doi.org/10.1086/261725

Rosenstein-Rodan, P. N. (1943). Problems of industrialization of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Economic Journal, 53(210), 202-211. https://doi.org/10.2307/2226317

Schumpeter, J. (1934). Theory of economic development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Semmler, W., Madrick, J., & Khemraj, T. (2006). Okun’s law and jobless growth. New York: Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.1.4719.7522

Silva, E. G., & Teixeira, A. C. (2008). Surveying structural change: seminal contributions and a bibliometric account. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 19(4), 273-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2008.02.001

Solow, R. M. (1956). A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 70(1), 65-94.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1884513

Solow, R. M. (1957). Technical change and the aggregate production function. Review of Economics and Statistics, 39(3), 312-320.

Soylu, Ö. B., Çakmak, I., & Okur, F. (2018). Economic growth and unemployment issue: Panel data analysis in Eastern European Countries. Journal of International Studies, 11(1), 93-107. https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-8330.2018/11-1/7

Stamer, M. (1998). Interrelation between subsidies, structural changes and economic growth in Germany: a vector autoregressive analysis. Konjunkturpolitik, 44(3), 231-253.

Stamer, M. (1999). Strukturwandel and wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Deutschland, den USA and Japan. Aachen: Shaker.

Syrquin, M. (2010). Kuznets and Pasinetti on the study of structural transformation: never the twain shall meet? Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 21(4), 248-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2010.08.002

Timmer, M. P., Dietzenbacher, E., Los, B., Stehrer, R., & de Vries, G. J. (2015). An illustrated user guide to the World Input-Output Database: the case of global automotive production. Review of International Economics, 23(3), 575-605. https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12178

Weinhold, D. (1996). Investment, growth and causality testing in panels. Economie et Prévision, 126, 163-175.

Weinhold, D. (1999). A dynamic “fixed effects” model for heterogeneous panel data. London School of Economics.

Wheatley, A. (2010). Avoiding the middle income trap. New York Times, 25 October.