IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/5697.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why Are There Rich and Poor Countries? Symmetry-Breaking in the World Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Kiminori Matsuyama

Abstract

To explain cross-country differences in economic performance, the economics of coordination failures typically portrays each country in a closed economy model with multiple equilibria and then argues that the poor countries are in an equilibrium inferior to those achieved by the rich. This approach cannot tell us anything about the degree of inequality in the world economy. A more satisfactory approach would be to build a world economy model and show why it has to be separated into the rich and the poor regions, i.e., to demonstrate the co-existence of the rich and poor as an inevitable aspect of the world trading system. In the present model, the symmetry-breaking of the world economy into the rich and the poor occurs because international trade causes agglomeration of different economic activities in different regions of the world. International trade thus creates a kind of pecking order among nations, and as in a game of musical chairs, some countries must be excluded from being rich.

Suggested Citation

  • Kiminori Matsuyama, 1996. "Why Are There Rich and Poor Countries? Symmetry-Breaking in the World Economy," NBER Working Papers 5697, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5697
    Note: ITI
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5697.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arvind Panagariya, 1988. "A Theoretical Explanation of Some Stylized Facts of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(3), pages 509-526.
    2. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1990. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 92-96, May.
    3. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1995. "Complementarities and Cumulative Processes in Models of Monopolistic Competition," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(2), pages 701-729, June.
    4. Matsui Akihiko & Matsuyama Kiminori, 1995. "An Approach to Equilibrium Selection," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 415-434, April.
    5. Murphy, Kevin M & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1989. "Industrialization and the Big Push," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1003-1026, October.
    6. Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 1996. "The division of labor and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 3-32, April.
    7. Ciccone, Antonio & Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1996. "Start-up costs and pecuniary externalities as barriers to economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 33-59, April.
    8. Irving B. Kravis & Robert E. Lipsey, 1982. "Towards an Explanation of National Price Levels," NBER Working Papers 1034, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Bhagwati, Jagdish N, 1984. "Why Are Services Cheaper in the Poor Countries?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(374), pages 279-286, June.
    10. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1991. "Increasing Returns, Industrialization, and Indeterminacy of Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 617-650.
    11. Prebisch, Raúl, 1950. "The economic development of Latin America and its principal problems," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 29973, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    12. Bela Balassa, 1964. "The Purchasing-Power Parity Doctrine: A Reappraisal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(6), pages 584-584.
    13. Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1992. "The market size, entrepreneurship, and the big push," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 347-364, December.
    14. Rodrik, Dani, 1996. "Coordination failures and government policy: A model with applications to East Asia and Eastern Europe," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-2), pages 1-22, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Azariadis, Costas & Stachurski, John, 2005. "Poverty Traps," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, Elsevier.
    2. Gans, Joshua S., 1998. "Time Lags and Indicative Planning in a Dynamic Model of Industrialization," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 103-130, June.
    3. Murata, Yasusada, 2002. "Rural-urban interdependence and industrialization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 1-34, June.
    4. Wrona, Jens & Kreickemeier, Udo, 2016. "Industrialisation and the Big Push in a Global Economy," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145707, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Benjamin F. Jones, 2008. "The Knowledge Trap: Human Capital and Development Reconsidered," NBER Working Papers 14138, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. de Fontenay, Catherine C., 2004. "The dual role of market power in the Big Push: from evidence to theory," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 221-238, October.
    7. Funk, Peter, 1998. "Satiation and underdevelopment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 319-341.
    8. Daido, Kohei & Tabata, Ken, 2013. "Public infrastructure, production organization, and economic development," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 330-346.
    9. Catherine deFontenay, 2000. "Market Power and the Failure of the Big Push: Evidence and Theory," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1269, Econometric Society.
    10. Soon Ryoo, 2011. "Banks with market power, sectoral structure and the big push," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 1-38, May.
    11. Da Rin, Marco & Hellmann, Thomas, 2002. "Banks as Catalysts for Industrialization," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 366-397, October.
    12. Gancia, Gino & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2005. "Horizontal Innovation in the Theory of Growth and Development," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 111-170, Elsevier.
    13. Peretto, Pietro F., 1999. "Industrial development, technological change, and long-run growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 389-417, August.
    14. Ciccone, Antonio & Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1996. "Start-up costs and pecuniary externalities as barriers to economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 33-59, April.
    15. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2004. "Financial Market Globalization, Symmetry-Breaking, and Endogenous Inequality of Nations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(3), pages 853-884, May.
    16. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:15:y:2003:i:9:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1997. "Mobile Capital, Local Externalities, and Industrialization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 345-365, December.
    18. John S. Landon‐Lane & Peter E. Robertson, 2009. "Factor Accumulation And Growth Miracles In A Two‐Sector Neoclassical Growth Model," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(2), pages 153-170, March.
    19. Buera, Francisco & Hopenhayn, Hugo & Shin, Yongseok & Trachter, Nicholas, 2021. "Big Push in Distorted Economies," CEPR Discussion Papers 15910, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. repec:dgr:rugcds:199703 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Marco Da Rin & Thomas Hellmann, "undated". "Banks as Catalysts of the Big Push," Working Papers 98, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    22. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1993. "Modelling Complementarity in Monopolistic Competition," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 11(1), pages 87-108, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.