Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy

9 Staple theory and export-led growth

Constructing differential growth

Introduction

The central proposition of this chapter is that the staple theory of economic growth, originally based on the oeuvres of Canadian economic historians, remains an important contemporary model and framework for economic analysis. This is in spite of the forceful critiques of the staple theory put forth from the 1950s. I argue that the staple theory helps explain the causes of different real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates through time in a particular region or country and patterns of differential per capita growth rates between regions and countries. This is achieved by identifying the necessary conditions for exports to increase real per capita ...