An economic miracle is a period of extraordinary economic growth and development. Especially when such is unexpected. Several countries over the years have recorded such a dramatic growth to earn themselves the economic miracle tag. Poverty remains a major problem ravaging the world today, and economic miracles are needed more than ever before. However, we need to get back to the basics. Economic miracles are not instantaneous, random, and unexplainable results. It goes beyond wishes and hoping for a brighter future. Economic miracles are not the fruit of financial engineering. At the root of an economic miracle is the creation of the necessary environment to enhance the productivity of the people.
In december 2014, Bill Gates published a blog post titled “Can the Asian Miracle Happen in Africa?” on his website. The post was an excellent book review and analysis on Joe Studwell’s book: “How Asia Works”. Bill Gates said he read the book “because it claimed to answer two of the greatest questions in development economics: How did countries like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China achieve sustained, high growth and turn into development success stories? And why have so few other countries managed to do so?” Long story short, we got a concise, simple formula that worked for the economies understudied. He observed that they created the conditions necessary for small farmers to thrive. Then used the proceeds from agricultural surpluses to build a manufacturing base that is tooled from the start to produce exports.
A watchman must learn to lead with knowledge. Be a visionary. A visionary has the patience to lay the blocks of transformation one at a time. The true visionary realizes there are no shortcuts and that being petty does more harm than good in the long run. There is no economic miracle without an obsession to improve the productivity of the people. This is not something exclusive to governments, anyone with a vision for a people-group can begin to consider what it would take. Never underestimate your ability to build a business that improves the productivity of people. The compounding effect of that would drive the economy of your world in the right direction.
