ABSTRACT
This book is about economic growth. Some of the facts – or more accurately, some of our beliefs – about modern economic growth are presented visually in fig. 1.1, which plots rates of growth for fourteen advanced countries over a period of about 100 years. It is tempting to jump straight into our subject by commenting at once on some of the main features of this diagram and of Table 1.1 (pp. 22–3), in which the data on which it is based, and some others which are relevant, are more precisely presented. Unfortunately, the derivation, the meaning and the limitations of these data call for discussion, both urgent and extended, and it would be as irresponsible as it is tempting to launch into descriptions and explanations based on these data before subjecting them to the required exegesis. So we had better begin again.
