| This dissertation consists of three essays on long-run economic growth.; Chapter 1 develops a growth theory that accounts for the evolution of trade policy, the underlying internal class conflict, and global income divergence since the 18th century. By analyzing political response to the distributional effects of international trade, this research finds a prominent interaction between trade policy and the pattern of economic development, and suggests that the nature of the interaction depends on a country's resource abundance. As shown by the example of Western Europe, capital-abundant and land-scarce countries reach a developed stage through a non-monotonic evolution of trade policy. In contrast, land-abundant and capital-scarce countries, especially those with large-scale landlords, tend to fail to take off because of landlords' opposition to industrialization.; Chapter 2 develops a theory about the role of inequality in the overtaking of growth performance across countries. The theory captures two opposing effects of inequality on factor accumulation and suggests that the qualitative change in their combined effect is a prime cause of overtaking. Due to the initial dominance of the positive effect of inequality, a less egalitarian economy undergoes a higher growth path in the short run, followed by a lower growth path in the long run. It is also shown that divergence or convergence may arise instead of overtaking, depending on the initial levels of development and inequality.; In connection with Chapter 2, Chapter 3 attempts to provide empirical support for the following hypotheses. First, income inequality enhances subsequent physical capital accumulation as individual saving rates rise with income level. Second, it depresses educational attainment due to borrowing constraints on educational expenditure. It also shows that the quantitative impacts of inequality depend on the time interval. These results offer insight into recent studies on inequality and economic growth. |
