Publication

This paper tests the classic narrative of economic development - poor countries are caught in poverty traps, out of which they need a big push involving increased aid and investment, leading to a takeoff in per capita income - which has been very influential in development economics since the 1950s. The author finds that poverty traps in the sense of zero growth for low income countries are rejected by the data in most time periods. The author concludes that the takeoffs are not associated with aid and investment as the standard narrative would imply.