A cross-country study of growth, saving and government

Model.s of endogenous economic growth can generate long-ten growth without relying on exogenous changes in technology or population. A general feature of these models is the presence of constant or increasing returns in the factors that can be accumulated. I use some models of this type to study the determination of per capita growth investment in physical and human capital, and population growth. The determinants of these variables involve aspects of government policy-- including public infrastructure services, maintenance of property rights, government consumption, and taxation-- and the initial level of per capita income. I examine the predicted relationships by using a cross-country sample that expands on the Summers-Heston set of about 120 countries. Aside from their data on levels of per capita GDP and the breakdown of GDP into components, I have added information about the composition of government expenditures, proxies for economic freedom and property rights, measures o