ABSTRACT
Development is a difficult process. If we were to rely on economic history, we would readily become aware that it was not and it is not, by far, a pervasive process spreading evenly and smoothly across countries and over areas of the world as yet untouched by systematic growth. For nearly a century it had remained confined to the British Isles and only in the second half of the nineteenth century did it begin to affect continental countries and, across the Atlantic, the United States. A glimpse over the world economic map today suffices to show that the development record, however measured, is at best uneven; rather, a motley collection of successes and failures, with some areas having forged ahead whilst others having fallen behind. Decadence as much as development has been the rule.
