Catching Up at Different Speeds

Political institutions needed to catch up.

If I would split China, look here, Shanghai has already catched up.

Growth took off in China. The Chinese started catching up very quickly with the United States.

Coherent programs to promote economic catch up are relatively straightforward.

To begin, the national champions of the catch up phase must be rendered accessible to competitive assault.

Yet some other high income countries, such as the United States and Canada, are not keeping up.

Some developing countries, especially in Africa, are late starters and their markets are relatively underdeveloped.

Without relatively high savings, a developing country like China may never catch up.

The gap between developed and developing countries continues to be impressive, although developing countries are slowly catching up.

Even Burma has gotten on board, resuming diplomatic engagement with the US while trying to work its way out of China s shadow.

If that happened, other countries Australia, New Zealand, and, most importantly, India might seek to jump on the bandwagon.

Developing countries can thus sustain service led growth, given the huge room they have for catch up and convergence.

But the economics of innovation are very different for those at the frontier versus those who are followers striving to catch up.

First, although some parts of the economy reached advanced industrialization in record time, other parts (and institutions) are struggling to catch up.

It permits self confident political leaders to take charge of their own future. It allows them to shape the narrative that underpins market confidence, rather than play catch up.

This time, TFP growth soared to 5 6 , partly owing to the catching up process facilitated by China s adoption of foreign technology and know how.

This is another form of solidarity, which also exists in the EU, where regional development funds are allocated to poorer regions to foster catch up growth.

Manufacturing enables rapid catch up because it is relatively easy to copy and implement foreign production technologies, even in poor countries that suffer from multiple disadvantages.

Leaders of OECD countries should look at Italy and recognize the dangers emerging from their young people who are being left behind.

Coherent programs to promote economic catch up are relatively straightforward. But the transition from follower to leader at the frontier of the innovation economy is more challenging and elusive.

Some conspiracy minded commentators even suggest that this is related to Europe s lack of competitiveness instead of trying to keep up, they say, Europe has decided to find a way to slow everyone else down.

For catch up countries, like China, rapid growth is often accompanied by brisk structural change that moves factors of production, especially labor, from low productivity activities to economic sectors with much higher productivity.

Developing countries continue to catch up and at the end of 2004 they accounted for 38 per cent of all Internet users in the world, up from 25 per cent in 2000.

This opens up some room for governments to maneuver. It permits self confident political leaders to take charge of their own future. It allows them to shape the narrative that underpins market confidence, rather than play catch up.

By subjecting trade relations to embargoes, sanctions, and tests of democracy, environmental standards, and human rights, the League is likely to retard the growth of trade, and thus the chance for poor non democracies to catch up.

HONG KONG For 250 years, technological innovation has driven economic development. But the economics of innovation are very different for those at the frontier versus those who are followers striving to catch up.

I am relatively certain that the US will successfully manage its reorientation and realignment, but the relative weight and reach of its power will nonetheless decline in the new world of the twenty first century, as others grow in strength and catch up.

During its current term, the group considered the barriers that African Portuguese speaking LDCs face in preparing their NAPAs and developed an action plan to support Portuguese speaking countries that are lagging behind in the preparation of their NAPAs.

Leaders of OECD countries should look at Italy and recognize the dangers emerging from their young people who are being left behind. In Italy itself, it is high time that older generations start acting with wisdom.

For catch up countries, like China, rapid growth is often accompanied by brisk structural change that moves factors of production, especially labor, from low productivity activities to economic sectors with much higher productivity. This adds to the surplus by increasing firms profitability.

In any meaningful international comparison, China s per capita stock of physical capital is still 8 10 times lower than in advanced countries like the United States and Japan. Without relatively high savings, a developing country like China may never catch up.