Abstract

The usual practice in contemporary literature is to treat of economic growth by way of an analysis of the several factors whose joint operation is thought to issue in an expansion of the productive powers of society. There are, for instance, the factors of saving and investment; investment leads to an increase in the social product and, if sufficiently large, to a rise in per capita income. Around this central mechanism of growth, many authors group a variety of contributing factors which perform a more or less decisive role in raising a country from poverty to riches. Those usually discussed include population, entrepreneurship, technology, resources, and a somewhat loosely defined category of social and institutional factors.