Description

How can poor and weak societies escape poverty traps Political economists have traditionally offered three answers stimulate growth first build good institutions first or some fortunate nations inherited good institutions that led to growth

Yuen Yuen Ang rejects all three schools of thought and their underlying assumptions linear causation a mechanistic worldview and historical determinism Instead she launches a new paradigm grounded in complex adaptive systems which embraces the reality of interdependence and humanitys capacity to innovate

Her analysis reveals two broad lessons on development First transformative change requires an adaptive governing system that empowers groundlevel actors to create new solutions for evolving problems Second the first step out of the poverty trap is to use what you haveharnessing existing resources to kickstart new markets even if that means defying firstworld norms

Bold and meticulously researched How China Escaped the Poverty Trap opens up a whole new avenue of thinking for scholars practitioners and anyone seeking to build adaptive systems