Essays on economic growth through creative destruction

This dissertation deals with both theoretical and empirical issues of endogenous economic growth. Chapter 1 establishes a dynamic general equilibrium model that incorporates the dynamics of both human capital accumulation and technological progress. The transition dynamics generate an unbalanced growth of physical and human capital, along with the emergence of organized R&D, which creates a constant growth path with changing components in a way that is consistent with the non-Kaldorian facts witnessed in the US data. Chapter 2 (with Peter Howitt) shows that the semi-endogenous growth model is rejected by the same long-run trends in TFP and R&D that earlier rejected the first-generation endogenous models, whereas the second-generation endogenous model with the product proliferation effect is not rejected. Chapter 3 presents a mechanism through which majority voting helps to expedite the restructuring process and hence, productivity growth.