IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esprep/144162.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Revisiting the Invisible Hand Hypothesis: A Comparative Study between Bulgaria and Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Gesheva, Nadezhda
  • Vasilev, Aleksandar

Abstract

This paper examines Adam Smith’s concept of an Invisible Hand of the market in light of the underlying assumptions for the theory to hold. Furthermore, the study focuses on Total Factor Productivity as a measure of efficiency of resource allocation, employs growth accounting in Bulgaria relative to a frontier country (Germany), and tries to explain the Total Factor Productivity gap with the difference in the quality of institutions and economic freedom performance (where the latter is based on the Freedom Index Indicators). Satisfactory results have been obtained, favoring the hypothesis that freer markets perform better and a “catching up” effect of Bulgaria’s Total Factor Productivity levels towards those of Germany has been observed. Finally, the study provides policy recommendations facilitating the Invisible Hand Process in Bulgaria for a more rapid convergence towards Germany’s productivity levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Gesheva, Nadezhda & Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2016. "Revisiting the Invisible Hand Hypothesis: A Comparative Study between Bulgaria and Germany," EconStor Preprints 144162, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:144162
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/144162/1/IHM_publication.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2015. "Welfare gains from the adoption of proportional taxation in a general-equilibrium model with a grey economy: the case of Bulgaria's 2008 flat tax reform," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 169-185.
    2. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2015. "The welfare effect of flat income tax reform: the case of Bulgaria," EconStor Open Access Articles, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 205-220.
    3. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Technical Appendix to "Macroeconomic effects of public sector unions"," MPRA Paper 68235, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2015.
    4. Teodor Sedlarski, 2009. "Transaction Costs in the Course of the System Transformation in Bulgaria," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 35-55.
    5. Lee, David & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 739-749.
    6. David S. Lee & Emmanuel Saez, 2008. "Optimal Minimum Wage Policy in Competitive Labor Markets," Working Papers 1105, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    7. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    8. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2002. "Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 460-501, June.
    9. Riccardo Crescenzi & Marco Percoco (ed.), 2013. "Geography, Institutions and Regional Economic Performance," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-642-33395-8, February.
    10. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    11. repec:pri:cepsud:178lee is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2015. "Macroeconomic Effects of Public-Sector Unions," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(2), pages 101-126, June.
    13. Adriana Liberto & Stefano Usai, 2013. "TFP Convergence Across European Regions: A Comparative Spatial Dynamics Analysis," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Riccardo Crescenzi & Marco Percoco (ed.), Geography, Institutions and Regional Economic Performance, edition 127, pages 39-58, Springer.
    14. Lee, David & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 739-749.
    15. Kaloyan Ganev, 2005. "Measuring Total Factor Productivity: Growth Accounting for Bulgaria," GE, Growth, Math methods 0504004, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Apr 2005.
    16. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    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. Aleksandar VASILEV, 2019. "Taxation And Welfare: Measuring The Effect Of Bulgaria’S 2007-08 Corporate-Personal Income Tax Reforms," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 10(2), pages 113-117.
    2. Lee, David & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 739-749.
    3. Kory Kroft & Kavan Kucko & Etienne Lehmann & Johannes Schmieder, 2020. "Optimal Income Taxation with Unemployment and Wage Responses: A Sufficient Statistics Approach," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 254-292, February.
    4. Raj Chetty, 2009. "Sufficient Statistics for Welfare Analysis: A Bridge Between Structural and Reduced-Form Methods," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 451-488, May.
    5. Lavecchia, Adam M., 2020. "Minimum wage policy with optimal taxes and unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    6. Nguyen, Phong Thanh & Nguyen, Linh Thi My, 2022. "Understanding platform market value through decentralization governance — An integrative model from signaling and mechanism design theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    7. Jeffrey Clemens, 2015. "Regulatory Redistribution in the Market for Health Insurance," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 109-134, April.
    8. Darcy W. E. Allen & Jason Potts & Julian Waters-Lynch & Max Parasol, 2024. "Costly Signalling in DAOs," Papers 2406.18457, arXiv.org.
    9. Deaton, Brady J., Jr. & Hoehn, John P., 2003. "Information As A Double-Edge Sword: Implications For Food Standards And Labels," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22235, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Samuli Leppälä, 2015. "Economic Analysis Of Knowledge: The History Of Thought And The Central Themes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 263-286, April.
    11. Borello, Giuliana & De Crescenzo, Veronica & Pichler, Flavio, 2019. "Factors for success in European crowdinvesting," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    12. Aart Gerritsen & Bas Jacobs, 2020. "Is a Minimum Wage an Appropriate Instrument for Redistribution?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 87(347), pages 611-637, July.
    13. Pierre Cahuc & Guy Laroque, 2014. "Optimal Taxation and Monopsonistic Labor Market: Does Monopsony Justify the Minimum Wage?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(2), pages 259-273, April.
    14. Schmidt, Reinhard H., 2020. "Das Arbeitsgebiet "Unternehmensfinanzierung" als Teil der deutschen Betriebswirtschaftslehre," IBF Paper Series 02-20, IBF – Institut für Bank- und Finanzgeschichte / Institute for Banking and Financial History, Frankfurt am Main.
    15. Micheli, Martin, 2016. "Minimum wage: Redistributive or discriminatory policy?," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145830, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2005. "The Governance Of Localized Knowledge: An Information Economics Approach For The Economics Of Knowledge," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 200502, University of Turin.
    17. Hungerbühler, Mathias & Lehmann, Etienne, 2009. "On the optimality of a minimum wage: New insights from optimal tax theory," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3-4), pages 464-481, April.
    18. Laurence Jacquet & Etienne Lehmann & Bruno Linden, 2014. "Optimal income taxation with Kalai wage bargaining and endogenous participation," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 42(2), pages 381-402, February.
    19. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2020. "Are labor unions important for business cycle fluctuations? Lessons from Bulgaria," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 143-161, March.
    20. Jacquet, Laurence & Lehmann, Etienne & Van der Linden, Bruno, 2011. "Optimal Redistributive Taxation with Both Labor Supply and Labor Demand Responses," IZA Discussion Papers 5642, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Invisible Hand of the Market; Free Market Economy; Total Factor Productivity; Convergence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:esprep:144162. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.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.