GRASP

Growth And Sustainability Policies for Europe

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Growth And Sustainability Policies for Europe (GRASP) addresses European policy concerns associated with growth within a comprehensive yet coherent analytical framework. This framework is built on Aghion’s version of the Schumpeterian growth approach. It emphasizes quality-improving innovation in imperfectly competitive markets, but suggests optimal growth policy may depend as well on levels of technological (and financial) development, and on seemingly unrelated, yet relevant policies. The approach provides a multi-layered vision of the policy drivers of growth. The five layers address gaps in current European research on growth: R&D (the Lisbon focus); structural economic reform; legal, institutional and organizational reforms; global commitments, and the fiscal policy. The first layer focuses on economic assessments of innovation (property rights and incentive issues). The structural economic reform layer focuses on sectoral (infrastructure, education and social) and regional policies. The third layer examines the interactions between the law, institutions, and the drivers of innovation. Global commitment looks at trade policies and global environmental commitments. The fiscal layer focuses on government finance of any public good component of these layers and their effectiveness in contributing to growth. Each layer provides a multidisciplinary diagnostic of the quality of growth-related policies. Combining them allows us to construct a full “Schumpeterian growth diagnostic” to assess the effectiveness of public policies, and the adequacy and sustainability of growth in Europe. The GRASP consortium brings together theorists, applied econometricians, and institutional (law, politics and economics) researchers to pursue complementary, state-of-the-art analyses. CEPR’s unrivalled expertise in organizing pan-European research collaboration further strengthens the GRASP consortium.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An investigation into the interplay of growth policies and their impact on prosperity sheds light on how growth drives the economy.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Economic growth comes in several forms, and experts believe it is tied directly to innovation and invention of new products, services and systems that constantly replace outdated ones. This is the view taken by the French economist Philippe Aghion, who built on an older theory by famed Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter. With growth being an inestimably important driver of the economy, the EU-funded project 'Growth and sustainability policies for Europe' (GRASP) investigated Aghion's version of the Schumpeterian growth approach.

The project considered different layers of policy drivers tied to this concept, which focuses on innovation in imperfectly competitive markets and on the role of technological development. One layer had to do with economic assessments of innovation, including how property rights and incentive issues affect growth. Another investigated structural economic reform and studied various sectors of society, such as infrastructure and education, looking simultaneously at regional policies as well.

A third level explored the dynamics between institutions, drivers of innovation and existing laws to extrapolate their combined impact on economic growth. This also factored in legal, institutional and organisational reforms that can hamper or benefit growth in a myriad of ways. Massive EU research and development efforts in recent decades have also represented a critical aspect of growth in Europe, remaining an important consideration that GRASP also delved into.

Moreover, the project looked at global commitments such as trade policies and environmental commitments, and how they affect economic growth. Yet another important consideration was fiscal policy, examining government finance related to the other components and their effectiveness in contributing to growth.

In summary, GRASP analysed growth-related policies and constructed a full Schumpeterian growth diagnostic to evaluate the adequacy and sustainability of growth in Europe. To achieve these aims the project brought together top-notch researchers and theorists belonging to a variety of disciplines across Europe, ranging from applied econometrics to law and politics. The flow of research and its outcomes delve into the intricacies of growth and the true mechanisms behind it, helping us create better roadmaps for a more prosperous European future.