Based on The Sources of Economic Growth in OECD Countries (2003), this book is intended for an undergraduate audience. It focuses on the growth patterns of OECD countries during the 1990s. Facts, figures, and analysis are presented at the macroeconomic level, industry level, and firm level. It also analyzes the contribution of information technology (IT) at each of these levels.
For most of the post-war period, OECD countries with relatively low GDP per capita grew faster than richer countries. In the 1990s this pattern broke down. Most notably, the United States, with already a relatively high level of GDP per capita among the world’s major economies, drew further ahead of the field starting in the second half of the 1990s. In 2000, at the height of the new economy, information technology was hailed as a technology that would radically transform OECD economies and bring large economic benefits. But the recent economic slowdown has laid to rest several of the myths surrounding IT.
Understanding Economic Growth provides a comprehensive overview of these issues and new insights on what drives economic growth in OECD countries.