Three essays in *growth, technology and *development

This dissertation is based on the field of Growth, Technology and Development. It consists of three essays based on the JEL Classification system O0. Each essay independently explored Growth, Technology and Development topics. In the first essay, the topic of Causal Relationship Between Savings and Economic Growth in Economies with Different Income Levels was analyzed. The first essay addresses the relationship between domestic savings and economic growth for various economies with different income levels. Using time series annual data, the Granger causality test was conducted. The study seeks to determine whether the direction of causality in these economies is different based on their income class: namely low-income, low-middle income, upper-middle income, and high-income countries. Furthermore, using innovation accounting (impulse response functions and variance decomposition), the study examined the impact of a shock on future patterns of the economic growth rate and growth rate of savings.;The second essay is on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Expenditure and Internet Usage in Asia-Pacific and OECD. Observations of the recent developments in hardware, software, and the Internet reinforce the importance and role of ICT. This essay utilizes logit transformation for proportion data analysis to empirically investigate two dependent variables: ICT expenditure and Internet usage. A fixed-effects panel data model was used to examine the factors influencing ICT expenditure and usage of the Internet. Two regressions were estimated for a sub-sample of 11 Asia-Pacific countries and 22 OECD countries.;The third essay is FDI: Determinants and Its Role in the Development of ASEAN-5. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has contributed heavily to development of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In this study, the concentration is on five ASEAN countries: namely Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. FDI inflows into the ASEAN-5 multiplied spectacularly from 1980 to 1997, but the trend has reversed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. This paper seeks to identify the determinants of FDI in the region for the 1980--2001 period. The study also examined the contributions of FDI, trade openness, and liberalization to economic growth and development in the ASEAN-5. The second part of this paper analyzes the future of FDI direction in ASEAN-5 as China and India open their markets and begin attracting foreign investors.