Capital Formation in the Take-Off

Abstract

The wise men who invited me to introduce a discussion on capital formation and its contribution to take-off have shown a flattering confidence in my gamesmanship. This fourteenth session of the conference has the misfortune to relate to a subject that is by no means foreign to the preceding twelve and overlaps with the remaining two. Of necessity, however, it has been prepared in ignorance of their contents. I can, therefore, neither avail myself of the fruits of my colleagues’ researches nor refrain from trespassing on ground already covered or about to be covered. I must plead guilty in advance to the charge of not knowing what we have been talking about. I plead guilty also to the more serious charge of not knowing what we are talking about. The concepts of capital formation and take-off are not self-explanatory and are capable of very different interpretations. In the time at my disposal, however, I must accept them in all their haziness, abstain from anything more than an interrogatory aside, and plunge almost at once into the issues of substance, hoping that the discussion will not be prevented by any shortage of working capital from taking off into sustained growth.