Bangladesh 2000-2017: Sustainable Growth, Technology and the Irrelevance of Productivity

Abstract

This paper focuses on the case of Bangladesh as an example of a country that is at risk of falling into the ‘middle income trap’, in other words the risk that a country that has attained middle income levels will then be unable to join the club of developed countries. This paper uses the theory of Unequal Exchange from the Dependency School to understand the middle income trap in Bangladesh and further argues that the ideas of productivity, competitiveness and technological change derived from orthodox economic thinking are not useful in understanding growth prospects and policy responses in contemporary middle income countries. Alternately, the paper explains the role of structural change as a means of sustaining growth in middle income countries.