Catch-up growth and global convergence

Citigroup economists Willem H. Buiter and Ebrahim Rahbari, who earlier identified 11 global growth generating (3G) economies for the first half of this century, have another paper investigating the likely future sources of global economic growth between 2010 and 2050.

They use 40 year economic forecasts by Citi economists, historical GDP data for the most recent 10-year period, and available economic research on the drivers of long-term growth, to examine national-level global growth generators. They assume United States as the technology frontier country and draw the distinction between growth at the technology frontier (productivity growth at the frontier) and catch-up or convergence growth (mainly through adoption and importation of best-practice technology and know-how from the frontier countries). Naturally, they foresee most of the global growth to come from the latter source.

Their earlier 3G index aggregates some key growth drivers - gross fixed domestic capital formation; gross domestic saving; a measure of human capital (which aggregates demographic, health and educational achievement indices); a measure of institutional quality; a measure of trade openness; and the initial level of per capita income. Their final analysis and prescription about how a country grows fast

"1. Start poor
2. Start young
3. Open up to trade in goods and services and to foreign direct investment
4. Achieve reasonable political stability (the absence of significant external and internal conflict)
5. Create some semblance of a functioning market economy
6. Boost the domestic saving and investment rates
7. Invest in human capital (educate and train both boys and girls, focusing on pre-school, primary and secondary education and on vocational training)
8. Invest in infrastructure
9. Don’t be unlucky. Avoid war-like neighbours and natural disasters
10. Don’t blow it. Avoid internal conflict and populist assaults on the incentives to work, save and invest; avoid macroeconomic mismanagement, premature capital account
liberalisation and financial regulatory disasters.

Catch-up and convergence will do the rest."

If we examine the Indian economy with respect to these ten attributes/tenets, the picture is indeed encouraging, especially if point 9 is taken care of. Points 1, 2, 4, and 5 are inherent and historical advantages. Points 3 and 6 are true reform achievements. Even point 7 is being addressed. This leaves us with the real concerns - points 8 and 10.

All our immediate (inflation) and long term (growth prospects and convergence growth pace) macroeconomic challenges are closely linked with infrastructure. This is all the more so since infrastructure forms the basic platform that underpins the growth of the modern economy. We need to plan, design, raise resources and execute massively in all infrastructure sectors. And even if we mobilize the resources and show the requisite commitment to conceptualize and create infrastructure, the greater challenge is to ensure that we do not blow it up.

Here I am not worried about macroeconomic mismanagement nor financial market problems nor even corruption or internal conflicts. All these dangers always lurk around the corner and will even explode once a while, but when seen in historic perspective and when analyzing growth prospects over half-century, they are all surmountable, especially for a continental economy like India. A real worry will be with picking up the pieces from the "populist assaults on the incentives to work, save and invest". I will come back and post on this in the days ahead.