The Unresolved Mystery of the Great Divergence is Solved

Ron W. Nielsen ()
Additional contact information
Ron W. Nielsen: Griffith University, Australia.

Journal of Economic and Social Thought, 2016, vol. 3, issue 2, 196-219

Abstract: The so-called great divergence in the income per capita is described in the Unified Growth Theory as the mind-boggling and unresolved mystery about the growth process. This mystery has now been solved: the great divergence never happened. It was created by the manipulation of data. Economic growth in various regions is at different levels of development but it follows similar, non-divergent trajectories. Unified Growth Theory is shown yet again to be incorrect and scientifically unacceptable. It promotes incorrect and even potentially dangerous concepts. The distorted presentation of data supporting the concept of the great divergence shows that economic growth is now developing along moderately-increasing trajectories but mathematical analysis of the same data and even their undistorted presentation shows that these trajectories are now increasing approximately vertically with time. So, while the distorted presentation of data used in the Unified Growth Theory and the spuriously-created great divergence suggest the generally sustainable and secure economic growth, the undistorted presentation of data demonstrates that the growth is unsustainable and insecure. Similar dangerously incorrect concept promoted by the Unified Growth Theory is the repeated doctrine of takeoffs from the hypothetical but non-existent stagnation to growth. They also suggest prosperous and secure future. Such takeoffs never happened but even without them the current economic growth is insecure.

Keywords: Economic growth; Unified Growth Theory; Regional economic growth; Great Divergence; Income per capita; Hyperbolic growth. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A10 A12 C12 C20 C50 F00 N00 Y80 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.kspjournals.org/index.php/JEST/article/download/777/911 (application/pdf)
http://www.kspjournals.org/index.php/JEST/article/view/777/911 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ksp:journ3:v:3:y:2016:i:2:p:196-219

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic and Social Thought is currently edited by Bilal KARGI

More articles in Journal of Economic and Social Thought from KSP Journals Istanbul, Turkey.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bilal KARGI ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).