Abstract
There are several ways in which the growth of income or output of a country may be expressed, but frequently they consist of identities which can tell us very little about the causes of growth without adequate theorising. For example, growth can be expressed as the product of a country’s ratio of investment to output (I/O) and the productivity of investment (∆O/I), i.e.
By definition, slow growth is the product either of a low investment ratio, or a low productivity of capital, or both. It is this equation which forms the basis of the view that faster growth in developing countries requires more resources for investment, but by itself this does not constitute a theory of development.
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© 1978 A. P. Thirlwall
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Thirlwall, A.P. (1978). The Production-Function Approach to the Study of the Causes of Growth. In: Growth and Development. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15875-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15875-1_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
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