Abstract
Before the 18th century, it took about 1,400 years for the western world to double its income level. In the 19th century, the same process took about 70 years, and in the 20th century only 35 years (Maddison, 1995). That dramatic acceleration in growth rates came about with the rapid technological innovation after the Industrial Revolution and the transformation of agrarian economies into modern industrialized societies, with agriculture’s share of employment declining from more than 80 percent to less than 10 percent. This intriguing trend has led us to recognize that continuous structural change prompted by industrialization, technological innovation, and industrial upgrading and diversification are essential features of rapid, sustained growth.
The article is a shortened version of the 15th UN-WIDER Lecture delivered at Maputo, Mozambique on May 4, 2011. It is published in Global Policy, vol. 3, issue 4, November 2012, pp. 397–409. I would like to thank Finn Tarp, director of WIDER, for the invitation to give this prestigious lecture, and Celestin Monga, Vandana Chandra, David Rosenblatt, Volker Treichel, and Doerte Doemeland for excellent support in preparing this lecture. Comments from two anonymous reviewers on a previous draft are gratefully acknowledged.
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Lin, J.Y. (2013). From Flying Geese to Leading Dragons: New Opportunities and Strategies for Structural Transformation in Developing Countries. In: Stiglitz, J.E., Yifu, J.L., Patel, E. (eds) The Industrial Policy Revolution II. International Economic Association Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137335234_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137335234_3
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