Growth and Development : Correlation with Welfare Policies
Murroni, Federico (2020)
2020
Kauppatieteiden maisteriohjelma - Master's Programme in Business Studies
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-11-27
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202011107886
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202011107886
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis is to go to demonstrate how nowadays, the countries that manage to achieve solid, lasting and sustainable long-term economic growth are the same ones that commit themselves to supporting welfare policies by investing in their citizens through policies that aim to increase their human capital and social inclusion. The starting point will be the existing literature, to then demonstrate the different theses and conclusions through the help of empirical evidence and concrete examples.
To do this, concepts of economic growth and economic development will be examined and explained clearly and rigorously. In a given historical period, the phenomenon of economic growth will be contextualized and all the factors that contribute to its evolution will be analyzed. For this analysis we will start from the "classic" theories of economists Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Schumpeter. Once the point of view of the classical economists regarding the phenomenon has been broadly explained, Solow's "neoclassical" model will be examined, which, following two changes compared to the original version, is still in existence. today one of the clearest and most comprehensive growth models.
Subsequently, the topic "economic development" will be introduced, highlighting the differences compared to the concept of "economic growth". Often the two words were used as interchangeable synonyms, but the concept of development is much more complex than that of growth. In fact, if growth is estimated and analyzed through economic factors, in order to evaluate the degree of development of a country, it is necessary to also analyze social factors.
Through literature and empirical evidence they will be defined by factors that determine the degree of development of a country. Going to explain and define these factors that are used as development indices, it is shown how the key value that most represents the degree of economic growth of a country, or GDP per capita, is only an indicator of well-being in material terms , but does not appear to be completely exhaustive regarding the socio-economic situation of a country. Factors such as social inclusion, education, health and income inequalities will be examined and in particular the different economic policies adopted by States will be examined. In this regard, the different welfare systems will be compared between countries in Northern Europe (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) and lost countries in Mediterranean Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece). From this analysis, a substantial difference will emerge in terms of the priority of public expenditure interventions, which will fall on the economic growth factor.
To do this, concepts of economic growth and economic development will be examined and explained clearly and rigorously. In a given historical period, the phenomenon of economic growth will be contextualized and all the factors that contribute to its evolution will be analyzed. For this analysis we will start from the "classic" theories of economists Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Schumpeter. Once the point of view of the classical economists regarding the phenomenon has been broadly explained, Solow's "neoclassical" model will be examined, which, following two changes compared to the original version, is still in existence. today one of the clearest and most comprehensive growth models.
Subsequently, the topic "economic development" will be introduced, highlighting the differences compared to the concept of "economic growth". Often the two words were used as interchangeable synonyms, but the concept of development is much more complex than that of growth. In fact, if growth is estimated and analyzed through economic factors, in order to evaluate the degree of development of a country, it is necessary to also analyze social factors.
Through literature and empirical evidence they will be defined by factors that determine the degree of development of a country. Going to explain and define these factors that are used as development indices, it is shown how the key value that most represents the degree of economic growth of a country, or GDP per capita, is only an indicator of well-being in material terms , but does not appear to be completely exhaustive regarding the socio-economic situation of a country. Factors such as social inclusion, education, health and income inequalities will be examined and in particular the different economic policies adopted by States will be examined. In this regard, the different welfare systems will be compared between countries in Northern Europe (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) and lost countries in Mediterranean Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece). From this analysis, a substantial difference will emerge in terms of the priority of public expenditure interventions, which will fall on the economic growth factor.