Economic Growth versus Economic Development: Toward a Conceptual Clarification

Institutional and heterodox economists have long since drawn the conceptual distinction between economic growth and development. This paper will further clarify this distinction, one not usually incorporated in the mainstream of modern economic analysis. Given the paradigmatic boundaries of mainstream economics, it is assumed that the quantitative statics of economic growth are synonymous with the processes of economic development. Problems and questions relevant to the dynamics of institutional adjustment, to the transformation of values, and to the impact of technology on cultural evolution, among others, are kept outside the boundaries of analysis and policy formulation.