Economic growth and economic development 170

Introduction to Modern Economic Growth refer to as fundamental causes of economic growth It is these reasons that are preventing many countries from investing enough in technology, physical capital and human capital An investigation of fundamental causes of economic growth is important for at least two reasons First, any theory that focuses on the intervening variables (proximate causes) alone, without understanding what the underlying driving forces are, would be incomplete Thus growth theory will remain, in some essential sense, incomplete until it comes to grips with these fundamental causes Second, if part of our study of economic growth is motivated by improving the growth performance of certain nations and the living standards of their citizens, understanding fundamental causes is central, since attempting to increase growth just focusing on proximate causes would be tantamount to dealing with symptoms of diseases without understanding what the diseases themselves are While such attacks on symptoms can sometimes be useful, they are no substitute for a fuller understanding of the causes of the disease, which may allow a more satisfactory treatment In the same way, we may hope that an understanding of the fundamental causes of economic growth could one day all for more satisfactory solutions to the major questions of social science concerning why some countries are poor and some are rich and how we can ensure that more nations grow faster What could these fundamental causes be? Can we make progress in understanding them? And, perhaps most relevant for this book, is growth theory useful in such an endeavor? In this chapter, we will try to answer these questions Let us start with the last two questions The argument in this book is that a good understanding of the mechanics of economic growth, thus the detailed models of the growth process, are essential for a successful investigation of the fundamental causes of economic growth This is for at least two reasons; first, we can only pose useful questions about the fundamental causes of economic growth by understanding what the major proximate causes are and how they impact economic outcomes Second, only models that provide a good approximation to reality and are successful in qualitatively and quantitatively matching the major features of the growth process can inform us about whether the potential fundamental causes that are proposed could indeed 156