Innovation and the Dynamics of Economic Growth: The Case of the Mahi River Project

1467-8691

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Economics

A regional irrigation project in India has been studied as a focus for economic growth through innovation over the period 1983–1993. The classical theory of Schumpeter is considered in terms of the irrigation potential of a dam as a primary environmental jolt or deviant. Subsequent secondary innovations are traced as new crops (‘products’) and processes. The main active ‘drivers’ were noted as technical influence agents and entrepreneurial end-users (farmers). Multiple tertiary innovations were also noted as emerging from the secondary innovations. It is suggested that the dynamics of economic growth through environmental jolts requires a combination of entrepreneurial and active processes as well as more passive diffusion processes. Thus early models of entrepreneurial and diffusional aspects of innovation may require adapting to a more integrated theory for explaining the economic consequences of regional development initiatives.

Electronic Resource