Productivity Differences Between and Within Countries

39 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2009

See all articles by Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Melissa Dell

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: July 6, 2009

Abstract

We document substantial within-country (cross-municipality) differences in incomes for a large number of countries in the Americas. A significant fraction of the within-country differences cannot be explained by observed human capital. We conjecture that the sources of within-country and between-country differences are related. As a first step towards a unified framework, we propose a simple model incorporating both differences in technological know-how across countries and differences in productive efficiency within countries.

Keywords: economic development, economic growth, institutions, Latin America, productivity differences, regional inequality, within-country differences

JEL Classification: O18, O40, R11

Suggested Citation

Acemoglu, Daron and Dell, Melissa, Productivity Differences Between and Within Countries (July 6, 2009). MIT Department of Economics Working Paper No. 09-20, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1431581 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1431581

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Melissa Dell

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