[ 2 of 3 ]

3.5 Historically, starting from the United Kingdom and the radiation of modern economic growth in outwards waves to Europe and the settler communities of North America, Australia and New Zealand as the first wave, the driving force was technological change and innovations derived from scientific achievements and their application. Aid probably played no part in the first wave. Development was largely a replication in the new world of what had happened and was happening in the motherland. The people were the same and they sailed away with the management skills, the cultural practices, the planting materials and the commercial and trade networks. Trade played a major part in the development of these satellite nations.

3.6 The second wave was to the continent of Europe where trade played a major role. The radiation of the industrial revolution to Europe flourished initially along the coastal nations that also benefited from the ocean-bound trade with the Americas and Asia. The third wave of industrialization, put at around the Post Second World War, has been dominated by Asia. Japan had industrialized in the last quarter of the 19th Century through imitation and adaptation from Europe. It became a growth diffusing center for the Asian countries. The success of some these countries in climbing the development ladder in the last three decades has been attributed to the state of efforts at modernizing their agriculture. Jeffry Sachs suggests that, "The most important determinant (in the countries that achieved growth between 1980 and 2000), it seems, is food productivity.

Countries that started with high cereal yields per hectare, and that used high levels of fertilizer input per hectare, are the poor countries that tended to experience economic growth." [Sachs 2005:69]

3.7 The comparison is interesting. While East Asia in 1980 recorded cereal yield per hectare of 2,016 kilos, the sub-Sahara Africa equivalent was 927 kilos. The share of cropland that was under irrigation stood at 4% in sub-Sahara Africa as compared with 37% for East Asia. The crop area planted with modem seed varieties stood at 43% for East Asia as against 4% for SSA. Adult literacy rate was 70% in East Asia against 38% for SSA. Total fertility rate was already at 3.1 as compared with 6.6 in SSA. The sound footing of South East Asian agriculture is credited to have provided the platform for its take-off unto accelerated and sustainable growth. It must be pointed out here that the East Asia agricultural transformation benefited from international assistance in research and the dissemination of improved varieties that spearheaded the "Green Revolution" of the 1960s that aimed at curbing the recurrent cycle of famine in those parts of the world. Such systematic support to find appropriate planting materials adapted to the harsh sub-Saharan Africa environment and for transforming agriculture has been lacking in Africa. Countries such as Thailand also benefited from the development of their road infrastructure with assistance from the Americans.

3.8 And trade has played a significant role in these countries success in getting out of the poverty trap. And not the African type of trade concentrated on commodities; manufactured exports. And they had access to the richest market in the world, that of the USA.

3.9 It is probably not by accident that the successful industrialization efforts of the newly industrializing nations of East Asia over the past four decades seem to have centered on the sea coasts where access to ports and cheap transportation as a result of the revolution in containerization has facilitated the integration of these economies into the global trade and supply-chain network; Shanghai and the southern coastal rim of China, Penang Island of Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Honk Kong and Mauritius. These, not unlike Ghana and most African nations are all coastally located. But unlike them we lack adequate infrastructure for international trade access and the appropriate type of output to trade.

4. What is the alchemy that transforms national economies?

4.1 Obviously it is neither aid nor trade that helps put nations on the first rung of the sustainable development ladder and hoist them up and up with resulting improvements in living standards for the average citizen.

4.2 The mystery that William Easterly was trying to unravel is the alchemy that transformed China into the manufacturing factory of the world? What caused the transformation of a sleepy rice farming village into the Socks city of the world processing 9 billion socks a year about one third of world output? What caused China's industrial output to jump from $59 billion in 1978 to $844 billion in 2003 and export earnings to increase from $44 billion in 1982 to $428 billion in 2003?

4.3 Was the right type of education relevant? In both China and India the level of literacy has proven strategic. China's great leap to becoming the world's second largest economy and its manufacturing power house is not unrelated to her commitment in the past to mass literacy. This no doubt facilitates the transformation of rural dwellers into factory hands and to their quick absorption of other nation­ building skills. India, on the other hand, concentrated on higher education. Her successful command position in the lCT, software -development, back office out­ sourcing, and her strength in the outsourcing of global research is indicative of how having relevant educated workforce and suitable institutions can facilitate a nation's integration into the global production processes.

4.4 As Jarred stated earlier the trick is to avoid many causes of failure and ignite a process "that catalyses itself in a positive feedback cycle, growing faster and faster once it has started." [Diamond, page 111].

4.5 An important element of the success of these countries is that they managed to put together an environment that attracted foreign direct investors who brought along with them, their capital, technology, and access to the rich US and European markets. The opportunities of outsourcing of manufacturing activities of the transnational corporations made it possible for these successful nations to become part of the global supply chain. These global networking provided opportunities for the workers of these nations to absorb skills and technological insights that have put the nations up the learning curve and the skills and the lessons thus learnt tend to radiate to other aspects of the host nation's other domestic economic activities. And a major driving force for their success has been the strategic role played by focused and visionary leadership.