Can Economic Growth Be Sustained?: The Collected Papers of Vernon W. Ruttan and Yujiro Hayami

This collection of essays by Ruttan and Hayami spans their long career in the economics of technical and institutional change. At both a theoretical and empirical level, their analysis of induced innovation provides a solid foundation for understanding how and why technologies and institutions evolve in response to factors that constrain them. Can Economic Growth Be Sustained? provides a sweeping explanation of this process. As scholars, Ruttan and Hayami’s abilities and experiences complemented each other. Together, they had great success in working across contexts to integrate Western models of technological change and more holistic Asian perspectives on multi-factorial interaction. Their perspectives are wide ranging, covering large geographical areas and thoroughly examining the historical development of agriculture in the United States, Japan, and many other countries. This volume collects their most influential papers, from which much can be learned.