Growth and Development Accounting Between 1990 and 2019: Theoretical Revisions, Methodological Clarifications, and Empirical Results

ABSTRACT Focusing on productivity measurement, this article contributes to the growth and development accounting literature by improving the accuracy of results within the existing framework—without introducing new variables. We implement three simultaneous revisions to the standard growth and development accounting frameworks: (i) accounting for labor quality, (ii) allowing for time‐ and country‐varying factor elasticities, and (iii) relaxing the assumption of constant unitary returns to scale. All affect the contributions to growth and development. Using data from PWT 10.0, we calibrate growth and development accounting frameworks to quantify and rank the drivers of growth and development across 130 countries from 1990 to 2019. Results and stylized facts are presented at the country level, by income group, and for the full sample. The three proposed refinements, pedagogically grounded in empirical evidence, provide more precise estimates of the contributions of capital, labor, labor quality, and aggregate productivity to economic growth and development.