Lelo Nxumalo

It is not an overstatement to say that this is THE book to read if you want to learn anything about an emerging view of why and how countries grow. A key take-away for me is the importance of assessing development, not in terms of what people can buy, but instead what people can make. This knowledge and know-how, Cesar describes, is embodied in the products that countries exchange with each other. He thus proposes a new way of thinking about international trade as really an exchange of crystals of imagination (i.e., the products that embody knowledge and know-how).  As to why some places exhibit more "imagination" or crystalization thereof (or make more sophisticated products) he offers an explanation grounded on the difficulties of fostering "links" to create dense networks from which individual "personbytes" can be combined to make more imaginative products. Transaction costs make it difficult to bring knowledge and know-how together. Things li...