The Divergent Dynamics of Economic Growth: Studies in Adaptive Economizing, Technological Change, and Economic Development

257 Pages·2003·1.4 MB·English

by  Richard H. Day

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TheDivergentDynamicsofEconomicGrowth
Thisbookexplainshowchangingtechnologyandeconomizingbehaviorinduce
vastchangesinproductivity,resourceallocation,laborutilization,andpatterns
ofliving.Economicgrowthisseenasaprocessbywhichbusinesses,regimes,
countries,andthewholeworldpassthroughdistinctepochs,eachoneemerging
fromitspredecessorandcreatingtheconditionsforitssuccessor.Viewedfrom
along-runperspective,growthmustbecharacterizedasanexplosiveprocess
markedbyturbulenttransitionsinsocialandpoliticallifeassocietiesadaptto
newopportunities,thedemiseofoldwaysofliving,andthevastincreaseand
redistributionofhumanpopulations.Thebookisbasedonanewandunique
synthesisofclassicaleconomicsandcontemporaryconceptsofadaptationand
economicevolution.Althoughitisgroundedinanalyticalmethods,thetexthas
been stripped of all equations and with few exceptions is devoid of technical
jargon.
Richard H. Day is Professor of Economics at the University of Southern
California.HecofoundedthedistinguishedJournalofEconomicBehaviorand
Organization with Sidney Winter in 1980 and served as its editor until 2002.
ProfessorDay’sfirstbookdevelopedaclassofrecursiveprogrammingmodels
for simulating production, investment, and technological change. This work
becamethebasisofadynamictheorydescribingeconomicchangewhenagents
are boundedly rational, when economic behavior is adaptive, when markets
workoutofequilibrium,andwheneconomicstructureevolves.ProfessorDay
wentontoinvestigatechaosandmultiphasedynamicsincompetitivemarkets,
stockmarketprices,businesscycles,andgrowthwhensignificantnonlinearities
areincorporated.HisfindingswerepublishedintwovolumestitledComplex
EconomicDynamics:VolumeI:AnIntroductiontoDynamicalSystemsandMar-
ketMechanisms(1994);VolumeII:AnIntroductiontoMacroeconomicDynamics
(2000).Hisongoingresearchinvestigatescoremacroeconomicissuesforprivate
enterpriseandpublicpolicyaswellastheimplicationsofbehavioraleconomics
formacroeconomictheory,modeling,andpolicy.

The Divergent Dynamics of
Economic Growth
Studies in Adaptive Economizing, Technological
Change, and Economic Development
RICHARD H. DAY
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521830195
© Richard H. Day 2004
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2003
- 
isbn-13 978-0-511-07134-8 eBook (EBL)
- 
isbn-10 0-511-07134-5 eBook (EBL)
- 
isbn-13 978-0-521-83019-5 hardback
- 
isbn-10 0-521-83019-2 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
DedicatedtoMySisters
lylaandsylvia
WhomIadoredasachild
andwhohavebeena
continualsourceof
encouragementeversince

Contents
Preface pageix
AcknowledgmentsandComments xiii
1 TheAdaptive,EvolutionaryTheoryofDivergentEconomic
Growth 1
partone.globaltrendsandadaptiveeconomics
2 GlobalTrends,WorldModels,andHumanAdaptation 21
3 AdaptiveEconomicTheoryandModeling 36
parttwo.technologicalchangeinagriculture
andindustry
4 TheEconomicsofTechnologicalChangeandtheDemiseofthe
Sharecropper 59
5 EconomicDevelopmentasanAdaptiveProcess:AGreen
RevolutionCaseStudy 79
RichardH.DayandInderjitSingh
6 IndustrialDevelopmentandTechnologicalChange 97
RichardH.Day,MasatoshiAbe,JonNelson,WilliamK.Tabb,
andCheTsao
7 AnAdaptiveEconomizingAnalysisofChineseEnterprises
UnderAlternativeReformRegimes 115
RichardH.Day,ZhigangWang,andGangZou
partthree.epochaldevelopment
8 EconomicDevelopmentandMigration 141
RichardH.DayandYiu-KwanFan
vii
viii Contents
9 InstabilityintheTransitionfromManorialism:
AClassicalAnalysis 158
10 DoEconomiesDiverge?EconomicDevelopmentintheVery
LongRun 178
RichardH.DayandOlegPavlov
partfour.towardageneraltheoryofdevelopment
11 EconomicsFarfromEquilibrium 203
12 TheDialecticalRepublic:TowardaGeneralTheoryofthe
CoevolutionofMarketandState 221
Index 237