Mortality Rate and Property Rights in a Model with Human Capital and R&D

Abstract

We use a set of established growth models, which simultaneously include human capital and R&D, to show that the effect of mortality rate in human capital accumulation is quantitatively more important than the effect of perfectly guaranteed patents on research. First, we show that the effect of mortality rate on human capital accumulation productivity may explain differences in growth paths and development levels across countries, accounting for the main features of economic development of the industrialized world in the last two centuries. Then, we explicitly compare the two types of expropriation (mortality rate and uncertainty in property rights).

Keywords: Institutions, Incentives, Economic Growth, Economic Development, Industrial Revolutions

JEL Classification: O10, O11, O17, P14