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Article: Strengthening globalization's invisible hand: what matters most? Developed financial markets, human capital, access to technology, and strong legal systems are essential for healthy economic growth.
- Article from:
- Business Economics
- Article date:
- October 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The National Association for Business Economists. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In this paper, we investigate what matters most to sustaining strong economic growth in today's more globalized, knowledge economy. An examination of 2005-2006 statistical and survey data across 52 countries reveals that economic growth is driven mainly by developed and trustworthy financial markets, a well-educated and skilled workforce, and access to information and communications technologies. Moreover, we find that creditworthy financial markets are strengthened by free and open economies based on the rule of law and legal protections. Our findings support the notion that innovative ideas and entrepreneurship are at the heart of economic growth. However, these ideas ...