Theory of economic growth c.1

The purpose of this book is not to present original ideas on its subject, but to try to provide an appropriate framework for studying economic development. The place for original ideas is articles in the technical journals, and my articles on this subject are listed in the bibliographical notes. A book of this kind seemed to be necessary because the theory of economic growth once more engages world wide interest, and because no comprehensive treatise on the subject has been published for about a century. The last great book covering this wide range was John Stuart Mill's Principles of Political Economy, published in 1848. After this economists grew wiser; they were too sensible to try to cover such an enormous field in a single volume, and they even abandoned parts of the subject altogether, as being beyond their competence. It is partly irrepressible curiosity and partly the practical needs of contemporary policy-makers that have driven me to range over this enormous area; but I suppose it is also mainly an excess of courage that has permitted me to offer to a critical public a book whose subject matter is so vast that most of it must inevitably be treated superficially.