A Critical Investigation of Determinants of Economic Growth - Research Paper Example

For instance, in the case of natural resources, a country that exploits its resources efficiently will be more industrialized and developed as compared to a country that has left its resources idle. Therefore, the topic of economic performance in a country mainly deals with economic growth and development. The economic performance of a country refers to a combination of the country’s economic growth and development. Economic history asserts that a country’s economy could be growing yet leaving the country underdeveloped.

Therefore, in order to assess the country’s economic performance, it is essential to address both the level of growth, and the level of development (Grabowski et al. 18). Generally, countries develop depending on the available growth. In economic history, different scholars define economic performance differently. For instance, while the physiocrats viewed agriculture as the main source of wealth, Adam Smith defined labor as the key source of wealth in a country. History of economic thought also identifies other economists such as Thomas Malthus who discussed population as being a key factor, which could hinder economic performance in a country.

Malthus viewed population as a factor that a country ought to control in order to improve economic performance. Therefore, combining the works of all previous economists, economic history identifies the key factors affecting the economic performance of a country as discussed below. The level of the population in a country determines the overall production of the country. In addition, it also determines the GNP per capita of a country thus, determining the economic performance (Grabowski et al. 30). In economic history, the mercantilists asserted that high population was indeed favorable for the growth of the country since, it would ensure sufficient labor supply.

On the other hand, other economists in economic history such as Adam Smith asserted that a high population is not a surety of