The Mystery of Economic Growth »

Elhanan Helpman is Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade at Harvard University and a Fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advance Research.

Far more than an intellectual puzzle for pundits, economists, and policymakers, economic growth—its makings and workings—is a subject that affects the well-being of billions of people around the globe. In The Mystery of Economic Growth, Elhanan Helpman discusses the vast research that has revolutionized understanding of this subject in recent years, and summarizes and explains its critical messages in clear, concise, and accessible terms.

The tale of growth economics, as Helpman tells it, is organized around a number of themes: the importance of the accumulation of physical and human capital; the effect of technological factors on the rate of this accumulation; the process of knowledge creation and its influence on productivity; the interdependence of the growth rates of different countries; and, finally, the role of economic and political institutions in encouraging accumulation, innovation, and change.

One of the leading researchers of economic growth, Helpman succinctly reviews, critiques, and integrates current research—on capital accumulation, education, productivity, trade, inequality, geography, and institutions—and clarifies its relevance for global economic inequities. In particular, he points to institutions—including property rights protection, legal systems, customs, and political systems—as the key to the mystery of economic growth. Solving this mystery could lead to policies capable of setting the poorest countries on the path toward sustained growth of per capita income and all that that implies—and Helpman's work is a welcome and necessary step in this direction.

Masiiwa Rusare - Developing Economies

In this book, Elhanan Helpman reviews and analyzes economic growth, by pointing out the importance of input accumulation, trade, inequality, innovation, productivity, and institutions. He uses the most basic concept to outline what we know, what we do not know, and what we ought to know about the subject on a comprehensive and understandable manner. Such an approach should enable even noneconomists to become involved in the "growth mystery" without resorting to complex mathematical formulations...Overall, the book is well written, and the author is indeed highly knowledgeable on the issue at hand and his views are quite insightful and helpful in our understanding of economic growth, along with providing encouragement to developing countries.

1 Background 1

2 Accumulation 9

3 Productivity 19

4 Innovation 34

5 Interdependence 55

6 Inequality 86

7 Institutions and politics 111