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Theory of Economic Growth PDF

457 Pages·2007·38.799 MB·English
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DI S eB mN : y9 T 7 O8 P 0 S c 4 t1 ( a5 2 v4 1 i0 6 o 7 m (0 28 m 3 1 x 6 1 m 3 8 m m x m 1 ) 3 8 m m ) ( 2 1 0 ) ROlttledge Library Editions THE THEORY OF ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMICS Routledge Library Editions - Economics DEVElOPMENT ECONOMICS In 7 Volumes Western Enterprise in Far Eastern Economic Development A/lm II \X'estern Enterprise in Indonesia and Malaya A/lm III Economic Analysis and Policy in Underdeveloped Countries Baller IV The Condicions of Agricultural Growth BQserllp V Development Planning Lewis VI Overhead Costs Lewis VII The Theory of Economic Growth Lewis THE THEORY OF ECONOMIC GROWTH W ARTHUR LEWIS i~ ~~~~r~~~~~p LONDON AND NEW YORK First published in 1955 Reprimed in 2003 by Routledge 2 Park Square, !\ofilton Park, /\bingdon, Oxon, OX 14 4RN Transferred to Digital Printing 2006 Routledge iJ all illlprillt of the 'raJ/or & Frallch GroilP All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprimed or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information StOrage or retrieval synem, without permission in writing from the publishers. The publishers ha\'e made every effort to contact authorslcopyrighr holders of the works reprimed in R()f(tledge Libra/)' EdiliQIIJ - EC()1lomics. This has not been possible in every case, however, and we would welcome correspondence from those individualslcompanies we have been unable to trace. These reprims are taken from original copies of each book. In many cases the condition of these originals is not perfect. The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of these reprints, but wishes to point out that certain characteristics of the original copies will, of necessity, be apparent in reprints thereof. Britisb Librn,.y Cnta/ogllhlg ill Publimtio/l Data A CIP catalogue record for rhis book is available from the British Library The Theory of Economic Growth ISBN 10: 0415407087 ISBN 13: 9780415407083 Miniset: Development Economics Series: Routledge Library Editions - Economics Printed 3nd bound by CI'I Amony Rowe. Eastbourne THE THEORY OF ECONOMIC GROWTH by W. Arthur Lewis Stanley Jevans Professor of Political Economy in the University of Manchester George Allen & Unwin LId RUSKIN HOUSE MUSEUM STREET LONDON FIRST PUBLISHED 1955 SECOND u.tPRESSiDN 1956 THIRD IMPRESSION 1957 FOURTH IMPRESSION 1960 This book is copyright uflder Ihe Beme COflvefll;o/l, Apart Irom OflY lair dealiflgs lor Ihe purpose 01 pr/f'ate study. reUQrch, crilil'i1m or review, /U permitted under the Copyright Act 1956, no /XIrliofl m4Y be reproduced by any process wiThouT writ/en permission. Enquiry should be made TO the publisher PREFACE The purpose of this book is not to present original ideas on its subject, but to try to provide au appropriate framework for studying economic development. The place for original ideas is articles in the technical journals, and my articles on this subject are listed in the bibliographical notes. A book of this kind seemed to be necessary because the theory of economic growth once more engages world wide interest, and because no comprehensive treatise on the subject has been published for about a century, The last great book covering this wide range was John Stuart Mill's Principles ofP olitical Economy, published in 1848. After this economists grew wiser; they were too sensible to try to cover such an enormous field in a single volume, and they even abandoned parts of the subject altogether, as being beyond their competence. It is partly irrepressible curiosity and partly the practical needs of contemporary policy·makers that have driven me to range over this enormous area; but I suppose it is also mainly an excess of courage that has permitted me to offer to a critical public a book whose subject matter is so vast that most of it must inevitably be treated superficially. My title is misleading ifit suggests that there can be a single theory of economic growth. The factors which determine growth are very numerous, and each has its own set of theories. There is not much in common between the theories which one uses in studying land tenure, or the diffusion of new ideas, or the trade cycle, the growth of po pula· tion, or the government's budgets. 'Theories' of economic growth might have been a more appropriate title, but it would have been just as misleading in suggesting that the book set out to review the literature of economic growth. What I have done is to make not a theory, but a map. So many factors are relevant in studying economic growth that it is easy to be lost unless one has a general perspective of the subject. This also is my excuse for superficiality. Maps are published in many different scales. for many different purposes. The articles in the technical journal correspond to a scale of an inch to the mile. This book is on a scale more like an inch to a hundred miles; this too should have its uses. The same combination of curiosity and of practical need which drove me to this subject has also determined the shape of the book. Curiosity den:ands a philosophical enquiry into the processes of human history, w~ile practical need demands a handbook of things to do. Since I am equally interested in both. what I have written will suit neither those who care only for philosophy, nor those who want to know precisely what to do next. It seems inevitable that a book 6 PREFACE should rcfie<.:t the personality of its author, with its diversity of traits. A book must also relIeet its author's craft. Economists and socio logists deal in generalizations, where anthropologists and historians deal in particular cases. I would much have liked to strengthen the book by including in it two or three case studies of economic growth or economic stagnation. I set out with this intention, and have bad much pleasure reading of Ancient Egypt and Greece and Rome and Islam, not to speak of China, and Japan and the end of the Middle Ages. But in truth I derived more pleasure than knowledge, especially of periods before 1500 A.D., partly because so little is known with certainty about early economic history. To write up a single case adequately, covering all the matters dealt with in this book, requires immense researches, and a separate treatise. I have collaborated very closely with Mrs. Gisela Eisner, who is writing up the economic development of Jamaica from 1830 to 1930, as a member of the research staff of the University of Manchester. In a sense that volume, when it is publisbed in 1956, will be a case study corresponding to this. I have had generous treatment from many friends and acquaint anCes. Those who have taken time off, in South East Asia, or Africa. or the Caribbean, to show me what they were doing, to exchange ideas, and to entertain me hospitably, are so numerous that I cannot even begin to recite their names. Then there is also the debt one owes to the academic fraternity for innumerable conversations in many countries, as well as the ceaseless Bow of articles in journals. Mr. Peter Bauer, Professor Max Gluckman, Mr. J. M. Low, Dr. J. Mars. Dr. K. Martin, the Rev. R. H. Preston, Dr. P. Rosenstein-Rodan and Professor M. N. Srinivas have been kind enough to read the book in typescript, and to offer detailed criticisms. I have benefited im mensely from their comments, whilst obstinately adhering, here and there, to formulations whkh they still consider false or misleading. An immense labour has fallen upon my secretary, Miss Dora Walkden, who has typed the manuscript with patience and with care, and whose forbearance I gratefully acknowledge. My wife and children have paid a heavy price for the writing of this book, in absences and silences; but I cannot begin to speak of what [ owe to their affection. W.A.L. Manchester July, 1954 CONTENTS PREFACB page 5 I. INTRODUCTION 9 1. PEFINITIONS 2. METHODOLOGY 3. LAYOUT Bibliographical Note II. THE WILL TO ECONOMIZE 23 I. THE DESIRE FOR GOODS (a) Asceticism (b) Wealth and Social Status (e) Limited Horizons 2. THE COST OF EffORT (a) The Attitude to Work (b) The Spirit of Adventure 3. RESOURCES AND RESPONSE Bibliographical Note III. ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS 57 I. THE RIGHT TO REWARD (a) Non-Material Rewards (b) The Management of Property (e) The Reward for Work 2. TRADE AND SPECIALIZATION (a) Advantages (b) The Extent of the Market (e) Organization 3. ECONOMIC FREEDOM (a) Individualism and Collective Action (b) Vertical Mobility (e) Freedom of Markets 4. SOME CASES (a) Religion (b) Slavery (e) The Family (d) The Organization of Agriculture (e) Cottage Industry 5. INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE (a) The Process or Change (b) The Cycle or Change Bibliographical Note IV. KNOWLEDGE 164 I. THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE (a) Pre-scientific Societies (b) Invention and Research

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