Recent empirical studies by the World Bank [1993], Sarel [1995],Thomas and Wang [1996], Klenow and Rodriguez-Clare [1997], and Hsieh [2002]show that total factor productivity (TFP) growth was an important contributorto the rapid and sustained economic growth in East Asian economies. However,Krugman [1994], Kim and Lau [1994], Young [1992, 1995], and Collins andBosworth [1996] have shown that the economic miracles of these countries canbe sufficiently explained by factor accumulation, i.e., labor and capital.The implication of the findings is that such spectacular performance wouldnot be sustainable in the long run due to little progress in TFP. While theconflicting findings can partly be ascribed to the different methodologiesapplied, industry aggregation, variable adjustments or data sources, low TFPgrowth for East Asian economies is most likely to be due to miscalculation offactor shares, which play a significant role in determining the extent ofproductivity growth. In most cases, the growth rate of capital input oftenexceeds that of labor input, the higher capital share implies lower TFPgrowth.
From a policy perspective, the assessment of TFP growth isimportant as it serves as a guide for allocating resources and investmentdecision making. Another feature of the studies that have questioned the roleof TFP progress in the East Asian economic miracle is that they predominantlyfocus on the performance of the overall economy and pay little attention tomanufacturing industries. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is tore-examine the impact of net indirect taxes and imperfect competition on TFPgrowth with an application to 16 Taiwan's manufacturing industries overthe 1979-1999 period. Although earlier TFP studies on Taiwan'smanufacturing sector have examined TFP growth at the industrial level,including Chen and Tang [1990], Okuda [1994], Hu and Chan [1999], Liang andJorgenson [1999], and Fare et al. [2001], none have taken into account theimpact of net indirect taxes and imperfect competition to measure TFP growth.As a result, the studies miscalculate factor shares resulting in lowestimated TFP growth due to the failure to take account of net indirect taxesand market imperfection. Other TFP studies, e.g., Young [1995], Chuang[1996], and Timmer and Szirmai [2000], have investigated TFP growth for theoverall manufacturing sector without distinguishing individual industries.
Sm Miracle Neo Miracle
Those concerned with economic growth and development generallyagree that TFP growth plays an important role in the process. Under theframework of growth accounting, economic growth is traditionally attributedto growth in factor inputs and change in TFP; hence, some of the earlier TFPliterature suggest the economic miracle in East Asia was predominantlyachieved by factor accumulation in the absence of significant TFP progress.In reality, previous TFP growth estimates in East Asia were understated to alarge extent because they were based on miscalculated factor shares. Theresults of earlier TFP studies may be fragile if estimated factor shares didnot take into account the impact of market imperfection and net indirecttaxes. Therefore, this study reexamines 16 manufacturing industries in Taiwanover the period 1979-1999 using growth accounting and the modified factorshares approach. The findings are summarised as follows.
Magic, religion, astrology, alchemy, theurgy, miracle, divinationall of these phenomena characterize the context and practice of ancient Christianity. This course examines the constitution of these categories, the role and character of these phenomena in the Graeco-Roman world, and the interaction with and integration of these phenomena by ancient Christianity.
Eventually this changed when, since the 1980s, Pentecostals developed a scholarship that redefined a Pentecostal hermeneutic in line with the way early Pentecostals viewed and interpreted the Bible.4 The Cleveland School, consisting of the work of John Christopher Thomas, Ken Archer and Rickie D. Moore, initially represented the varying perspectives and nuances found among Pentecostals. Although there is yet no consensus on its final form, most scholars agree to its broad terms. Because of the new hermeneutical angle, reading the Scripture holds a sense of immediacy for Pentecostals. They accept the 'literal, plain meaning' of the text, because they identify closely with the experiences of the first Christians, illustrating their restorationist urge to continue the early church's emphasis on the continued work of the Spirit, including charismatic phenomena and miracles (Grey 2020:129). The Bible for them, was not a historical artefact but a living document with an application for their daily context. The narratives of Acts were incomplete, and they were continuing that story. Their reading approach was pre-critical, an adaption of the text-proof method. Archer (2014:65) asserts that it reflected how New Testament authors read the Old Testament. Like the Lukan narrative, they used a form of pesher interpretation, going beyond the text's plain meaning to include the revelation they perceived the Spirit showed them at the hand of the text (Purdy 2015:73). Their Bible reading method was characterised by a deductive process of combing the text for all references to a topic, and harmonising and synthesising the information (Martin 2013:3).
Barth does not accept the infallibility of the Bible, as this implies to him that humanity then would have the Word of God. The biblical words have objective contents; Barth does not contend with that statement. However, what matters for Barth is not the contents of narratives or law found in die Bible, but the encounter with God that occurs as the text is proclaimed. 'The miracle of God takes place in this text formed of words' (Barth 1938:532). He reasons that God in divine grace and through the Spirit's work must make the word of the Bible the divine word, before it touches human lives. The Bible is God's word 'only to the extent that God causes it to be His Word, to the extent that He speaks through it' (Barth 1933:109). God's revelation is always revealing; it can never be a static datum but remains an event. It is the dandum, that which must be given again and again. God's revelation is always an ongoing event, comparable to Moses' staff that pointed the way, but only when moved by a living stretched-out hand (Barth 1933:111). Therefore, revelation constitutes an always-new act, a constantly renewed miracle of grace (Barth 1938:529-30). Runia (1962:109) describes the syllogism representative of Barth's argument: God's revelation in the Bible must always be a miracle of grace. It becomes such a miracle only when God used fallible authors who remained fallible in their writing. Therefore, the Bible is a fallible document.
Barth (1938:510) refers to a denial of the humanness of the Bible as Docetism, a heresy that he argues threatens the Christian faith. His reason is that taking away or derogating the humanity of Scripture destroys the divine miracle of revelation. Pentecostal hermeneutics agrees and finds the Bible's authority in the inspirer of the Bible, who interprets it to contemporary readers. The authority of the Spirit, they argue, comes before the authority of the Bible and surpasses human interpretation of biblical texts. Pentecostals read the Bible with the agenda to encounter the Spirit in the biblical words (Nel 2018:81). The revelation or word of God cannot be confined or restricted to the book; God cannot be made a prisoner of the book that divine providence uses to encourage believers in their faith. The Bible is not under believers' control. Pentecostals' assertion that one can speak freely about the revelation of God in the divine works among Israel and the incarnation of Jesus supports the Bible's humanness. The implication is that it is preposterous to think that the book can encapsulate God's essence in human words and thoughts. Human thoughts can never contain the riches of the divine revelation and human language, and expression can never do justice to the glories of God. The divine existence in a frame of reference and dimension unknown to humanity disqualifies any sensible description of the essence of God. Even in saying that 'God is love', humans attempt to encapsulate God with a term that can only carry connotations derived from human beings' experience of the world.
Barth accepts that the Bible has authority for the church and believers. However, by distinguishing between the Bible and the word of God, Barth can state unequivocally that the church never has the word of God in its possession or control. Believers can only expect the miracle of revelation to happen, when they read the biblical words. Only in the divine act of revelation does the written word become the vehicle of the infallible God speaking to humankind (Barth 1938:577). God uses the fallible witness to reveal the divine self. God even uses a fallible witness's opaque and distorted words to state that women should not participate in the ministry to reveal the divine self, a discriminatory perspective that few Christians today accept. Many other examples abound.
2ff7e9595c
Comments