Structural economic dynamics : a theory of the economic consequences of human learning

This book is a theoretical investigation of the influence of human learning on the development through time of a 'pure labour' economy. The theory proposed is a simple one, but aims to grasp the essential features of all industrial economies. Economists have long known that two basic phenomena lie at the root of long-term economic movements in industrial societies: capital accumulation and technical progress. Attention has been concentrated on the former. In this book, by contrast, technical progress is assigned the central role. Within a multi-sector framework, the author examines the structural dynamics of prices, production and employment (implied by differentiated rates of productivity growth and expansion of demand) against a background of 'natural' relations. He also considers a number of institutional problems. Institutional and social learning, know-how, and the diffusion of knowledge emerge as the decisive factors accounting for the success and failure of industrial societies. This book is a theoretical investigation of the influence of human learning on the development through time of a 'pure labour' economy. The theory proposed is a simple one; but aims to grasp the essential features of all industrial economies. Economists have long known that two basic phenomena lie at the root of long-term economic movements in industrial societies: capital accumulation and technical progress, though attention has been concentrated on the former. In this book, by contrast, technical progress is assigned the central role. Within a multi-sector framework, the author examines the structural dynamics of prices, production and employment (implied by differentiated rates of productivity growth and expansion of demand) against a background of 'natural' relations. He also considers a number of institutional problems. Institutional and social learning, know-how, and the diffusion of information emerge as the decisive factors accounting for the success and failure of industrial societies. In this theoretical investigation of the development through time of a pure labor economy, the author shifts the theory of long-term economic development away from the traditional framework based on capital accumulation to new foundations based on learning and technical progress. He gives a detailed analysis of the structural dynamics of prices and production, and the necessary mobility of employment. Institutional and social learning, know-how, and the diffusion of information emerge as the decisive factors accounting for the success and failure of industrial societies. The term 'structural economic dynamics' was, until a short time ago, practically unknown in the economic literature. Luigi L. Pasinetti. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 177-181) And Index.