Can Economic Growth Be Sustained? : The Collected Papers of Vernon W. Ruttan and Yujiro Hayami (9780199754359)
Nothing could be more valuable than creating a new paradigm in economics, particularly in the field of agricultural development. A notable example is T. W. Schultz's (1964) thesis regarding "efficient but poor" small-scale farmers in low-income or developing countries. No less influential is Vernon Ruttan and Yujiro Hayami's thesis concerning the role of induced technical and institutional innovation; arguing that as the scarcity of a factor of production (e.g. labor) increases, technology that saves on the use of the factor is induced to develop, along with supportive institutions, including property rights systems, public-sector research and extension systems, and marketing institutions. In Chapter 2 of this volume, they note that "it became clear that the induced technical change theme could provide the structure needed to integrate a large body of theoretical and empirical research on agricultural development." In fact, their research provided a consi...