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Andres Palacio

Andrés Palacio

Senior lecturer

Andres Palacio

Catch up growth and social capability in developing countries : a conceptual and measurement proposal

Author

  • Martin Andersson
  • Andrés Palacio

Summary, in English

While the income per capita in the developing world since the turn of the Millennium has grown faster than that of the developed world, the question whether there is an ongoing process of catching up between countries remains. The notion of income convergence has provided many insights into the sources for long-run growth but has largely neglected the role of social capabilities in economic development. By social capabilities we mean the qualification of the ‘theory of convergence’ which between countries tend to vary inversely with regard to productivity levels. The social capabilities approach holds that a country’s potential for rapid growth is strong when “it is technologically backward but socially advanced” (see Abramovitz, 1986:388). This means that the potential to catch up under globalization is strongest for countries in which social capabilities are developed to allow successful use of technologies and where institutional arrangements are conducive to economic progress. Yet there is no clear agreement in the literature on the main components of social capabilities or how to measure them. Our framework argues that the role of capabilities in catching up needs to understand them in terms of structural transformation, economic and social inclusion, state ́s autonomy and accountability. Without progress in these dimensions within-country inequality may increase and might in turn lead to stagnating growth and slim prospects for global income convergence.

Department/s

  • Department of Economic History

Publishing year

2017-12-11

Language

English

Pages

7-23

Publication/Series

OASIS. Observatorio de Analisis de los Sistemas Internacionales

Issue

26

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Universidad Externado De Colombia

Topic

  • Economics

Keywords

  • Catching up, shrinking
  • income gap
  • social capability

Status

Published

Project

  • Resilience to economic shrinking: A social capability approach to processes of catching up in the developing world since the 1950s

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2346-2132