La prochaine séance du séminaire Hotelling, commun au CES-ENS Cachan et au RITM, se déroulera le jeudi 23 janvier 2014 de 16h à 17h30, à Cachan. Nous aurons le plaisir de recevoir Alain DESDOIGTS  (Université Paris-Est, ERUDITE)  qui présentera : “Mass Consumption and Bounded Learning by Doing: Some Demand-Side Implications of Income Distribution for Growth“, avec F. Jaramillo)
 
Abstract:
Stylized facts relevant to the analysis of economic growth traditionally focus on the supply-side of the economy. Little reference is made to mass consumption which has accompanied both industrial revolutions, and which today is a key feature of economic development in large emerging countries. This paper provides an endogenous growth model where supply (structural change) and demand (middle class consumption) interact to bring out a multi-industry flying-wild-geese development pattern where each industry may learn from its own experience and/or from others. An industry learning curve is assumed to evolve over time with cumulative industry output which in turn depends on the income distribution. To that end, we relax the assumption of homothetic preferences that neutralizes demand in the long-run. We discuss the implications of income distribution on an industry learning curve in a set up where a society of mass consumption may arise as a consequence of horizontal demand complementarities and technological spillovers across industries. Eventually, the survival function of the income distribution determines each industry learning curve. Only a non-degenerate, i.e. neither perfectly equal nor completely unequal, distribution of income will yield long-run growth. There is an inverted-U relationship between inequality and growth. The rate of growth ultimately depending on the size of the middle class which creates the conditions for mass consumption, scale economies and learning by doing as sources of sustained growth.
Lieu du séminaire :
ENS Cachan –Salle C. 513
Bâtiment Cournot – 5e étage
61, avenue du président Wilson, Cachan,
RER B Station Bagneux.
Le programme du séminaire pour l’année 2013-2014 est ici et le plan d’accès pour vous rendre à l’ENS Cachan est là.
Cordialement,
Les organisateurs
Nathalie Etchart-Vincent
José de Sousa
Thomas Vendryes