ABSTRACT
We have seen that economic growth is the cornerstone on which economic development is built (Chapter 1). We have also seen that growth performances across nations have been highly unequal, with some developing countries converging in per capita income with industrialized countries while others have been lagging behind, leading to the concept of conditional convergence (Chapter 2). And we have seen that fi nding ways to catch up with industrialized countries has been a primary objective in the long history of thought in development economics (Chapter 3). Yet our ability to explain economic growth, a central purpose of economics as a science, is highly defi cient, leaving us with what has been called the “mystery of economic growth” (Helpman, 2004) and the “elusive quest for growth” (Easterly, 2002).
