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This paper studies the emergence of developing countries from a development trap. It shows that countries whose dynamics exhibits several growth peaks can be considered as cases of equilibrium jump. Applying this criterion to a sample of 65 countries that were initially very poor in 1950, it identifies 13 such countries, called 'emerging economies'. Comparing emerging and non-emerging economies in the 1950s and early 1960s, it shows that economic take-offs starting in the 1960s can be related to health and education in the early 1950s, while other possible factors, such as savings, openness and democracy are not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that cumulative causation processes are fundamental to understanding growth and development. Such processes derive from spatially concentrated increasing returns to scale including thick market effects, knowledge spillovers, sectoral and urban clustering, and self-reinforcing improvements in physical and social infrastructure. These sources of agglomeration have been extensively analyzed in the economic geography literature. They imply that spatial unevenness in economic activity and incomes is an equilibrium outcome. Growth tends to be ‘lumpy’, with some sectors in some countries growing fast while other countries lag. The policy challenge is to lift potential new centers of economic activity to the point where they can reap the productivity and investment climate advantages of increasing returns and cumulative causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores Africa's regional integration models with a view to determining their suitability or otherwise for rapid economic growth. Using annual data spanning 1980-2012, the study employs the Johansen () and the Johansen and Juselius () method of cointegration and Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) to test for the presence of long-run equilibrium relationships among the variables and estimate their static and dynamic coefficients. The study found a significant positive role for infrastructure financing, and human and physical capital accumulation both of which significantly influenced Africa's economic growth. Intra-African trade, though positive and significant, was found to be less effective in inspiring growth compared to the above growth fundamentals. Trade openness and government spending were the only variables discovered to significantly influence Africa's economic growth in both the short and long run. The study concludes that the traditional approach to regional integration may not provide the best alternative for Africa's economic growth. It, thus, recommends the adoption of a mixed policy approach to regional economic integration to foster Africa's economic growth in the 21st century. The contribution of the study lies in its ability to subject Africa's models of regional integration to practical examination using modern approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]