Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2010

Keywords

Stevenson Center, economic growth, social development

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship between economic growth and social development. The paper looks at the effect of changes in national income in a country on social development of the citizens. Other factors like democratic characteristics and government stability are also considered at a secondary level. Although the main focus is on annual cross-country data for the period 1996-2006, estimates for shorter subperiods are also considered. The role of income relative to 16 proxies for social development is studied, and simple regression models are estimated through the fixed-effects format and also by using instrumental variables. While higher incomes do seem to lead to social development, the effect on several dimensions is not clear or sharp, and the impact seems to vary over time and across countries.

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