An Extension Of The Mankiw, Romer, and Weil’s “Contribution To The Empirics Of Economic Growth” with Recent Data

This paper explores the practical application of the Solow growth model in a number of countries and tests the consistency of the textbook Solow model with the recent data available for those countries. It replicates and expands the 1992 econometric study of the textbook Solow growth model by Mankiw, Romer, and Weil to recent years. Using cross- sectional data, the paper analyzes the impact of saving and population growth, technology and capital depreciation rates on the economic growth of a country. It shows that, in line with the textbook Solow model, higher saving positively affects economic growth, while the population growth rate affects it negatively. However, the paper demonstrates higher values of the OLS estimators of these factors than predicted by the Solow model, which suggests that augmentation of the model is necessary for it to be more successful in explaining the variation in international standards of living.