Recent literature expresses doubt in regard to policy reforms due to the lack of growth that has been seen (Easterly, 2019). This dissertation explores the challenges of causal modeling in economic development. It revisits pioneering attempts to estimate the economic policies that advance growth, using twenty-six years of additional data and different econometric modeling techniques. Levine and Renelt’s (1992) findings of fragility in cross-country growth regressions are validated. Updating and using a different econometric modeling technique finds investment to be robust for economic growth. This dissertation also builds off of work that has quantified the magnitude of growth episodes. This dissertation focuses on three country case studies that have experienced exceptional growth breaks based on net present value gains and losses. Exceptions are studied in an attempt to understand what has an impact on these growth breaks. Positive breaks in Haiti and Mozambique are associated with democratic transitions and subsequent foreign aid. The results indicate that economic policies alone are not responsible for growth episodes; rather, they are also impacted by political and social factors.
","abstract_html":"<p>Recent literature expresses doubt in regard to policy reforms due to the lack of growth that has been seen (Easterly, 2019). This dissertation explores the challenges of causal modeling in economic development. It revisits pioneering attempts to estimate the economic policies that advance growth, using twenty-six years of additional data and different econometric modeling techniques. Levine and Renelt’s (1992) findings of fragility in cross-country growth regressions are validated. Updating and using a different econometric modeling technique finds investment to be robust for economic growth. This dissertation also builds off of work that has quantified the magnitude of growth episodes. This dissertation focuses on three country case studies that have experienced exceptional growth breaks based on net present value gains and losses. Exceptions are studied in an attempt to understand what has an impact on these growth breaks. Positive breaks in Haiti and Mozambique are associated with democratic transitions and subsequent foreign aid. The results indicate that economic policies alone are not responsible for growth episodes; rather, they are also impacted by political and social factors.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Richmond, Paige"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Economics, PhD","degree_level":"Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation","degree_discipline":"School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Yi Feng","Paul Zak"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:28Z","subjects":["Economic development","Policy reforms","Cross-country growth regressions","Economics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/704","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Yi Feng","Paul Zak"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Richmond, Paige"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Economics, PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Economic development","Policy reforms","Cross-country growth regressions","Economics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/704"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Recent literature expresses doubt in regard to policy reforms due to the lack of growth that has been seen (Easterly, 2019). This dissertation explores the challenges of causal modeling in economic development. It revisits pioneering attempts to estimate the economic policies that advance growth, using twenty-six years of additional data and different econometric modeling techniques. Levine and Renelt’s (1992) findings of fragility in cross-country growth regressions are validated. Updating and using a different econometric modeling technique finds investment to be robust for economic growth. This dissertation also builds off of work that has quantified the magnitude of growth episodes. This dissertation focuses on three country case studies that have experienced exceptional growth breaks based on net present value gains and losses. Exceptions are studied in an attempt to understand what has an impact on these growth breaks. Positive breaks in Haiti and Mozambique are associated with democratic transitions and subsequent foreign aid. The results indicate that economic policies alone are not responsible for growth episodes; rather, they are also impacted by political and social factors.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Growth Breaks: A Qualitative Study of Exceptional Growth"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Yi Feng","Paul Zak"],"dc:creator":["Richmond, Paige"],"dc:date.available":["2023-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Recent literature expresses doubt in regard to policy reforms due to the lack of growth that has been seen (Easterly, 2019). This dissertation explores the challenges of causal modeling in economic development. It revisits pioneering attempts to estimate the economic policies that advance growth, using twenty-six years of additional data and different econometric modeling techniques. Levine and Renelt’s (1992) findings of fragility in cross-country growth regressions are validated. Updating and using a different econometric modeling technique finds investment to be robust for economic growth. This dissertation also builds off of work that has quantified the magnitude of growth episodes. This dissertation focuses on three country case studies that have experienced exceptional growth breaks based on net present value gains and losses. Exceptions are studied in an attempt to understand what has an impact on these growth breaks. Positive breaks in Haiti and Mozambique are associated with democratic transitions and subsequent foreign aid. The results indicate that economic policies alone are not responsible for growth episodes; rather, they are also impacted by political and social factors.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/704"],"dc:subject":["Economic development","Policy reforms","Cross-country growth regressions","Economics"],"dc:title":["Growth Breaks: A Qualitative Study of Exceptional Growth"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"],"thesis:degree_level":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Economics, PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:28Z"}