Covering all routes to growth

Economists who study economic growth have not agreed on the exact causes of growth in developing countries. Some stress that it is factor accumulation which is important, so that countries grow rapidly because they invest and educate at high levels; others stress that it is knowledge transfer from developed countries which is important, where knowledge includes both theoretical studies and applied, management skills; still other economists say that both contribute to growth. The last group seems to be the largest among leading professional economists, and examinations of the interactions between technology and accumulation lead to most interesting conclusions.

The rapidly growing East Asia countries tended to accumulate at high levels, but also adopted investment, trade, and educational regimes which led to accelerated transfers of technical knowledge. So it did not matter which route to growth was correct; they had both covered.