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This article presents new estimations of per capita GDP in colonial times for the two pillars of the Spanish empire: Mexico and Peru. We find dynamic economies as evidenced by increasing real wages, urbanization, and silver mining. Their growth trajectories are such that both regions reduced the gap with respect to Spain; Mexico even achieved parity at times. While experiencing swings in growth, the notable turning point is in 1780s as bottlenecks in production and later, the independence wars reduced economic activity. Our results question the notion that colonial institutions impoverished Latin America.

THE USE OF PER CAPITA MEASURES IN AGGREGATE DATA ANALYSIS HAS BEEN GIVEN LITTLE THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION. THIS PAPER ARGUES THAT UNLESS THERE IS SUCH A JUSTIFICATION, THE EMPLOYMENT OF SUCH TRANSFORMATIONS CAN LEAD TO GREATLY DISTORTED RESULTS. IT IS ARGUED PER CAPITA TRANSFORMATIONS ARE NOT ALWAYS UNDESIRABLE, BUT THAT GREATER ATTENTION NEEDS TO BE PAID TO THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION.

Bu çalışmada kamu harcamaları, hükümet istikrarı ve yozlaşmanın ekonomik büyüme üzerindeki etkilerinin dışa açıklık ve nüfus artışı gibi kontrol değişkenleriyle incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Ampirik analizler Dünya Bankasınca üst ve alt orta gelirli olarak sınıflandırılmış 33 ülkenin 1999-2014 dönemine ilişkin yıllık panel verileri kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Statik ve dinamik panel veri yöntemleri kullanılarak gerçekleştirilen ampirik analiz sonuçları ilgili ülkelerde kamu istikrarı ve dışa açıklık değişkenlerinin ekonomik büyüme üzerindeki istatistiksel olarak anlamlı pozitif etkilerine işaret etmektedir. Bununla birlikte, yozlaşma, nüfus artışı ve kamu harcamalarının ekonomik büyüme üzerinde istatistiksel olarak anlamlı ve negatif yönlü etkileri olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the sources of regional convergence in per capita incomes over the last four decades. Growth in per capita income is decomposed into two major components: (1) growth in employment rates and (2) growth in wage rates per worker. Using annual data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the paper finds that the observed convergence in per capita incomes of sates was largely due to convergence in employment rates; wage rates either did not converge or did so weakly. Employing an instrumental variables technique, the paper finds that rapid growth in the work force with relatively low levels of human capital in initially poor states was a depressing influence on wage rate growth in these states, and was a major reason for the relatively slow convergence in per capita incomes.

I estimate the effect that growth in countries' GDP per capita has on the growth rate of infrastructure. In order to extract exogenous variation in GDP per capita growth, I use the growth of the international oil price multiplied with countries' GDP shares of oil net-exports as an instrumental variable. My instrumental variables estimates show that, for both democracies and autocracies, GDP per capita growth has a significant positive effect on infrastructure growth. This effect is significantly smaller in anocracies—so much so that, in anocracies, GDP per capita growth has no significant effect on the growth rate of infrastructure.

E. M. Uslaner (see SA 27:5/K2442) has cautioned against the use of per capita measures when performing such statistical operations as linear regression & r. The employment of such measures has been crucial to the social sciences. In fact, Uslaner's argument confuses per capita transformations, in which the confounding effects of population size are removed from data, with the division by population size of data not originally a function of population size. This second approach is never used. In Straight Lines and Straight Thinking: Can All of Those Econometricians Be Wrong? Eric M. Uslaner (University of Maryland, College Park) notes that Lyons's response is needed. In many cases, per capita data are used simply because they are available, or because they are customarily used, without consideration of their appropriateness. Transformations should not be employed for these reasons, or simply because a researcher is unsatisfied with his/her results. W. H. Stoddard.

I estimate the effect that growth in countries' GDP per capita has on the growth rate of infrastructure. In order to extract exogenous variation in GDP per capita growth, I use the growth of the international oil price multiplied with countries' GDP shares of oil net-exports as an instrumental variable. My instrumental variables estimates show that, for both democracies and autocracies, GDP per capita growth has a significant positive effect on infrastructure growth. This effect is significantly smaller in anocracies-so much so that, in anocracies, GDP per capita growth has no significant effect on the growth rate of infrastructure.

Using a two-sector growth accounting model, the authors measure the total contribution (including both positive and negative effects) of population cum labour growth on per capita income and sectoral output growth. With respect to per capita income growth, the total contribution of population cum labour growth tended to be negative in the decades 1880-1930 and positive in the decades 1930-70, with theexception of 1940-50. (DÜI-Sen)