The point can be brought out with an example.
In the 1952 paper of Hans Singer from which I have already quoted,
one of the conclusions that Singer emphasis is the need to raise the then existing rate of saving.
He argued' with some assumptions about production conditions,
that to achieve even a 2% rate of per capital growth,
with a population growing at 25% per year,
a rate of net savings of 6% is necessary,
and that this rate of saving is about three times
the rate actually observed in underdeveloped countries.
The current average rate of saving is no longer a third of that figure,
but substantially higher than the figure.
The weighted average ratio of gross domestic saving for low income developing countries is estimated to be about 22%,
and that for middle income developing countries about 25%;
and, even after deducting for depreciation,
Singer's target has certainly been exceeded.
And, even with a faster growth of population than Singer anticipated,
the weighted average of GDP growth rates per capital has been about 2% per year
for low income countries and more than 3% per year
for middle income countries over the seventies.
The point of policy interest now is that,
despite these average achievements,
the performances of different countries are highly divergent.
There is still much relevance in the broad policy themes which traditional development economics has emphasis.
The strategies have to be adapted to the particular conditions and to national and international circumstances,
but the time to bury traditional development economics has not yet arrived.