Economic Growth and Sustainable Development

This essay explores the relationship between economic growth and sustainable development, focusing on how a poor country can catch up with a rich country. It discusses the key drivers of economic growth, including capital, population, technology, and education. The essay also emphasizes the importance of proper policy recommendations in improving economic performance. The countries of Canada and Sri Lanka are used as examples to illustrate these concepts.

Running head: ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Economic Growth and Sustainable Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
Economic growth is an important factor for development of a country. More the
economic growth better is the condition of a country as per standard economic theory. All the
countries thus try to achieve as much as growth to reach the maximum possible and
sustainable economic growth to become a rich economy. Many countries have already
achieved the rich status namely United States, France, Japan, Norway and many more.
However, many countries are yet poor and trying hard to become economically balanced and
rich. Contrariwise, every country grows with a certain rate and it is quite natural to think that
a rich country has every advantage to grow and become richer which might not be the case
with a poor country. In Solow model of economic growth theory, it is however argued that a
poor (developing) country can catch up with a rich (developed) country in the long run under
certain circumstances. Thus, in this essay two countries one rich and one poor is considered
to examine how a poor country grows and catch up with the rich country.
Figure 1: GDP per capita (US $)
Source: (Created by the Author)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
GDP per capita (US $)
Canada Sri Lanka

2ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The country considered as rich is Canada and as poor is Sri Lanka. According to
World Bank 2017-18 (2017) income level classification, Canada belongs to high-income
group whereas Sri Lanka belongs to the middle-income group. In 2017, gross domestic
product (GDP) of Canada was $1.647trillion and that of Sri Lanka was $87.36billion. The
GDP data show that there is a wide disparity between the two countries. Furthermore, to
understand the disparity more clearly the per capita GDP of the two countries is considered
because Canada is a significantly big country in comparison to Sri Lanka. The representation
of the difference between the per capita GDP of the two countries is shown in Figure 1. From
the figure, it is evident that there is a huge gap between the per capita GDP of Canada and Sri
Lanka. The lowest per capita GDP for both the countries was recorded in 1998, for Sri Lanka
per capita GDP was $850.53 and for Canada was $20887.83.The highest per capita GDP for
Sri Lanka was $4073.73 in 2017 and for Canada was $52496.69 in 2012. Thus, it is evident
that Sri Lanka is a much poorer country in comparison to Canada. Consideration of these two
countries to study that how Sri Lanka might try to improve its economic performance using
the economic growth models of Solow and Malthus seems justified. The latter part of the
essay discusses the economic growth theory and explains why capital, population, technology
and education are the key drivers of economic growth and emphasis on how proper policy
recommendations concerning the economic growth drivers enables Sri Lanka to improve its
economic performance.
Theory
The theory of economic growth has put importance on capital, labour, technology,
education and health because these are the key drivers of economic growth (Hanushek,
2013). The thorough study of each of the factors is important to understand the kind of effect
these factors has on the growth of an economy. Considering, the capital in the first place to

3ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
discuss its role in economic development. To understand the complete mechanism, the
famous economic growth model of Robert Solow is considered here.
Capital (Solow model)
N ΄=N (1+ p) (1)
The Solow model of economic growth assumes that population of an economy grows
at a constant rate of ‘p’ and the current population is ‘N’ and future population is N΄ (Bianca
& Guerrini, 2014). Therefore, N can be expressed as
The model also assumes that people consumes the amount of their income that is left
after saving ‘s’ proportion of income. Output is represented as income in this case and is
given as Y; on the other hand, consumption is given as C. Hence, the consumption function
can be written as
Regarding production in an economy, the assumption is that all the production in the
economy is done with same and constant technology T using two factors inputs labour and
capital (Dalgaard & Strulik, 2013). Labour and capital stock is represented as L and K.
Therefore, the production function given as
Y =F (K , L) (3)
The other important assumptions of the model are no international trade, full employment of
all factors of production and production function shows constant returns to scale (CRS) (Run
& Franco, 2014). CRS in production function means that output will increases as much as the
amount by which factors of production capital and labor increases. The current capital stock
is already been assumed as K and the capital accumulation is assumed as K̅ (Chatterjee et al.,
C=Y (1−s) (2)

4ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2017). Further, it is assumed that capital depreciates at the rate‘d’ and capital stock increases
with investment I. Thus, the capital accumulation is
given as
K =I −dK (4)
Now, from income expenditure equation Y =C +I and budget constraint equation of
consumer Y =C + S it is found thatI =S, and it is again expressed as I=sY , since S=sY .
Therefore, the future capital stock is expressed as
K =sY −dK (5)
The Equation 3, in Cobb-Douglas production function can be expressed as Y=AKaL1-a, where
a is the share of capital that K receives and 1-a is the share that labour receives. From the per
worker terms the equation can be expressed as y=Aka, where y denotes output per worker and
k denotes capital per worker. Therefore, capital accumulation in terms of capital per worker
can be represented as
k̅ =dk + sA k a (6)
Dividing equation 5 by K
K
K =s Y
K −d
¿ , K
K =s y
k −d (7)

5ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
¿ , K
K =s
Y
L
K
L
−d
Again, from the capital and labor relationship,
k
k = K
K − L
L
¿ , K
K = k
k + p (8)
¿ , k
k = K
K −p
Substituting value of K̅ /K given in the above equation in equation 7
k
k + p=s y
k −d
¿ k + kp=sy −dk
¿ , k =sy − ( d + p ) k
¿ , k =sA ka − ( d + p ) k (9)
The, equilibrium capital accumulation is given in the equation (9). Capital accumulation of an
economy increases if sAka >(d+p)k and decreases if sAka <(d+p)k. However, if sAka =(d+p)k
then the capital accumulation reaches the steady state equilibrium and its value at the point is
k̅=0. The capital stock at this point become fixed and is denoted as k*. Therefore, steady state
equilibrium is given as

6ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
sA k a− ( d + p ) k =0
¿ , sA ka = ( d + p ) k
¿ , sA
(d + p) =k1−a
¿ , k∗¿( sA
d + p )
1
1−a Steady state
equilibrium
capital stock
Figure 2: Steady state equilibrium of capital stock
Source: (Created by the Author)
In Figure 2, k* is the steady state capital stock, red curved line denotes the amount of capital
formation and upward sloping straight blue line denotes the depreciation and consumption of
capital. In the long run, there is no growth for an economy. Hence, two countries having same
population growth, depreciation and saving rate will have same steady state equilibrium with
same capital stock and thus they will converge (Korotayev & Zinkina, 2014). The
k1*
s1Af(k)
(d1+p1)k
(d+p)k, sAf(k)
(d+p)k
sAf(k)
kk*

7ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
convergence of two countries however is conditional because the countries may not have
same population growth, depreciation and savings rate and this may lead to different steady
state equilibrium. A different country having different population growth, saving and
depreciation rate p1, s1 and d1respectively, will have steady state equilibrium capital stock at
k1* (Ferrara, Guerrini & Sodini, 2014). This can be seen in Figure 2, different capital
formation given as green coloured curve and capital exhaustion curve as black straight line
leading to the steady state capital stock lower than k*.
Population (Malthusian model)
The Malthusian theory of economic growth states that population grows at geometric
progression and food grows at arithmetic progression (Simon, 2019). Hence, if population
growth is not controlled then in future there will be crisis of food (Crist, Mora & Engelman,
2017). According to Malthus the problem can be solved in two ways, one is preventive
approach and the other is positive approach. Under preventive approach people perceiving
the future issue of food crisis controls population growth by active family planning (Smith,
2013). It is a harmonious process, but in case of positive approach, the nature takes part and
solves the issue by itself by creating problems like poverty famine and joblessness (Barr,
2016). Hence, preventive approach is more appropriate to control population growth.
Quality of Labour (health, education)
Furthermore, education and health also play important role in economic growth of a
country. Both the factors improve the quality of a labour and thus increase human capital
(Goldin, 2016). In the recent world with advent of new technologies, only physical strength
would not provide the desired output. The combination of both is required. An educated
labour is more efficient than an uneducated labour and the case is similar for healthy and
unhealthy labour (Cairo & Cajner, 2017). Hence, more educated and healthy a labour is more
is the output it produces, resulting in increased output per worker value and it increases the

8ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
value of capital per worker ratio too. Hence, to improve economic growth of a country
education and health must be prioritized.
Technology
Technology is also an important contributor of economic growth because sit increase
the productivity of workers and improves working conditions that enables workers to work
for longer hours (Rodrik, 2014). Output produced per unit of capital-invested, improves with
new and improved technology. Thus, improvement is technology is always welcome, but too
fast innovation on the other hand increases cost of production as upgrading technology
frequently involves huge cost and no country would want to do that (Oyelola et al., 2013) .
Hence, technology change at a certain gap is positive factor for economic growth.
Governance and openness
The other factors that influence economic growth are good governance. The
management of resources and controlling the factors of economic growth requires feasible
and effective policies (Rondinelli, 2013). Hence, good governance is required to formulate
such policies. Both the countries concerned here are open economies hence comparative
advantage is there for both of them (Uy, Yi & Zhang, 2013). In the age of globalization being
open is a boon as accessibility to new technology and bigger market. Hence, openness helps
an economy to grow faster.
Application
In this essay, Canada is considered as the rich country and Sri Lanka is considered as
the poor country, the justification of such an assumption can be known from the value of
GDP of both the countries shown in Figure 3.

9ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Figure
3: GDP of
Canada and Sri
Lanka
Source:
(Created by the
Author)
The
growth theory of economics that is discussed in the previous section provides the notion that
it is possible for poor country to become rich and catch up with the rich developed country.
Figure 4: Gross savings of Canada and Sri Lanka
Source: (Created by the Author)
From theory of economic growth, the key drivers of development have been identified
as savings, population, health, education and technology (Fernald & Jones, 2014). Firstly,
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
GDP (billion US dollar)
Canada Linear (Canada)
Sri Lanka Linear (Sri Lanka)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Gross Savings as % of GDP
Canada Linear (Canada)
Sri Lanka Linear (Sri Lanka)

10ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
considering Solow model to discuss the possibility of Sri Lanka to be on the path of
economic development and catch up with Canada in the long run. The key factors of Solow
model are savings, population growth, total output or GDP and depreciation (Shapirov,2015).
Figure 4 depicts the gross savings as percent of GDP of Canada and Sri Lanka for 20 years.
In
the figure, it can be seen that in the initial years the savings rate of both the countries grew
nearly at the same rate until 2009. From 2010 savings rate of Canada started to fall while for
Sri Lanka, it started to rise and the gap between the two only kept on increasing with every
passing year. In 2017, gross savings rate of Canada was just over 20% and of Sri Lanka it
was barely over 34% of the total GDP of the country in the corresponding year. Hence,
savings rate of Sri Lanka is significantly higher than Canada and it definitely contributes in
the capital accumulation more effectively than Canada. Therefore, given the other factors
constant Sri Lanka will definitely improve its economy and catch up with Canada.
Figure 5: Population growth
Source: (Created by the Author)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Percentage Growth in Population
Canada Linear (Canada) Sri Lanka Linear (Sri Lanka)

11ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
However, in empirical world, other things do not remain constant and thus it is
important to consider and discuss other relevant factors of the economy or the model.
Therefore, before moving to the capital accumulation theory of Solow, comparing the other
relevant factors of the two countries. Population being one of the key factors of growth
affects the capital accumulation negatively as far as Solow model and Malthusian model is
concerned. In Figure 5, the population growth rate of Canada and Sri Lanka is shown. Over
the last 20 year, the population growth rate has increased gradually for both the countries,
which is evident from the growth trend line given in the figure. In 1998, population growth
rate of Canada was 0.85 percent while for Sri Lanka it was 0.51 percent approximately. In
2017, the population growth rate of Canada was 1.21 percent and for Sri Lanka it was 1.13
percent. Thus, it can be inferred that though the population growth of Sri Lanka is currently
lower than Canada but it might become equal or higher in the coming years as the trend line
is steeper in the case of Sri Lanka. Now, assuming the depreciation rate for both the countries
is same as in the world of globalization every technology is available for everyone. The
capital endowment for both the countries is different and the output rather for Canada the
value of the factors is higher in comparison to Sri Lanka (Čadil, Petkovová & Blatná, 2014).
Hence, it is unlikely for Sri Lanka to catch up with Canada in the long run, but it should be
considered that the savings rate of Sri Lanka is much higher than Canada and it definitely
have a positive and large impact on the capital accumulation and it would push the steady
state capital stock of the country largely. As a result, the long run GDP of Sri Lanka might
reach the level of Canada.
In Figure 4, the trend line of Sri Lanka is upward sloping while it is downward
sloping for Canada. Thus, it is obvious that the gap between savings rate will further widen
between the countries and it will affect Sri Lanka favourably. This result also justifies the
theory of Solow that poor country grows faster than rich country. The statement can further

12ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
be strengthened by the GDP growth percentage of both the countries and their growth trend
line as shown in Figure 6. Sri Lanka and Canada both have faced much of ups and downs in
the GDP growth rate but for Sri Lanka it has been higher than Canada in almost all the years
apart from few exceptions. The trend line of GDP growth rate depicts that the GDP growth
rate of Sri Lanka has an upward trend unlike Canada, showing that Sri Lanka is growing
faster and thus validates the statement that poor country grows faster than the rich one.
Figure 6: GDP Growth Rate
Source: (Created by the Author)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
GDP Growth %
Canada Linear ( Canada)
Sri Lanka Linear (Sri Lanka)

13ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
In relation to Solow model of capital accumulation, it is seen that Sri Lanka has a
possibility to improve its economic conditions in favour of welfare of its people. However,
population growth has an upward trend and is a point of concern as far as Malthusian theory
of population is related. The theory states that population is ever increasing factor but
available food to feed the population is limited. From Figure 5, it can be said that population
growth is positive for both the countries; however, in this essay concern is regarding the Sri
Lanka’s possibility of improving economically. Therefore, population growth of Sri Lanka is
more important here. The population growth has been low for Sri Lanka in the last 20 years
but there is an upward trend in population growth. Therefore, there is a possibility that the
population growth rate will increase more in future and give rise to the problem of food
crisis. It will then hamper the growth rate of Sri Lanka and decrease the pace of catching up
(Szirmai & Verspagen,2015). Therefore, the country should control its population by taking
preventive measures to avoid the adversities that might cause due to food crisis.
From the previous section, it is understood that only population and raw capital
cannot contribute to the economic growth. The main factor of economic growth is the quality
of labour that comprises of the population of a country (Ștefănescu-Mihăilă, 2015). Labour of
a country can only be improved qualitatively by proper education and improved health.
Hence, more the expenditure on education and health better is the quality of labour
(Anaduaka, 2014). The expenditure of Canada and Sri Lanka on education and health is
shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8 respectively. Figure 7 shows that Canada spends more on
education sector than that of Sri Lanka. Hence, labour in Canada is more skilled than in Sri
Lanka. This depicts why Canada has achieved the status of rich country and Sri Lank has not.
Similarly, in Figure 7 the expenditure in health sector by Canada and Sri Lanka, shows that
Canada spend a lot more in health than Sri Lanka.

14ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Figure
7:
Education expenditure
Source: (Created by the Author)
Hence, this shows why Canada is so much ahead of Sri Lanka. The quality of labour
or the human capital ought to be better in Canada both skill and efficiency wise. The
difference in education expenditure is not the only concern; the trend of expenditure draws
more attention. Human capital is one of the key factors that significantly contribute in
development of an economy. Every country should increase its expenditure on the factor
steadily, but on the contrary, the trend line of education expenditure for Sri Lanka exhibits a
downward trend in spending on education purposes. Putting together the low education
expenditure and downward trend for the same is making the condition of Sri Lanka worse
than before. Given the increase in GDP and its upward and positive growth trend it is
surprising that Sri Lanka is not increasing their spending on education. Hence, in the long run
there will be insufficient amount of skilled worker that will lead to decline in GDP and its
growth. The case is same for the health sector.
19981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Expenditure on education (% of GDP)
Canada Linear (Canada)
Sri Lanka Linear (Sri Lanka)

15ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Figure 8: Health expenditure
Source: (Created by the Author)
The
prominent disparity of expenditure in the education sector is visible in Figure 7. The per
capita expenditure is much more in Canada and very low in Sri Lanka. Hence, it is the main
reason that Canada has a better skill resources to keep up its pace to grow more but for Sri
Lanka it cannot be said until it improve labour quality by investing ample amount in
education and health sector (Graff Zivin & Neidell, 2013). Technology also plays an
important role in economic growth but as both the countries are open economies, they can
access any state of the art technology available worldwide (Thirunavukkarasu & Achchuthan,
2014). Hence, technology would not matter much in this case as far as imported technology is
concerned. However, Canada is ahead of Sri Lanka in developing new technology
domestically. The improved infrastructure for research and development in Canada puts it in
a privileged position. Sri Lanka lacks such infrastructural advantages and need build research
and development friendly set ups to innovate new technology domestically. Sri Lanka has
various drawbacks but those can be avoided with proper policies.
Policy Recommendation
The above discussion of economic theory of growth and its application for Canada
and Sri Lanka lead to the findings that Sri Lanka being a poor country might improve
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Health expenditure as % of GDP
Canada Linear ( Canada) Sri Lanka Linear (Sri Lanka)

16ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
economically and catch up with Canada in the long run. The positive factors that would
possibly help Sri Lanka in this are savings and openness (Siddiqui & Ahmed, 2013).
However, there are other factors, which are not at its desirable level such as expenditure in
health and education sector, increasing trend in population growth. Correcting these factors
will definitely improve the condition of Sri Lanka as the GDP growth rate is already good
and that will complement other factors positively. Hence, the policy recommendations should
focus to improve human capital by increasing expenditure in “Education and Health”
sector. Simultaneously, on the other hand, the government of Sri Lanka should formulate new
policies to control unwanted “Population Growth” trend.
Education and Health Policies
The human capital or the quality of labour can only be improved by improved
education and health of the population. Thus, Sri Lanka can improve the quality of education
by improving the complete educational system and infrastructure from the basic level. Firstly,
measures should be taken to assure 100 percent enrolment in school with free schooling for
economically backward children (Shi, 2016). Along with this it should be assured that, no
dropout from the education system occurs until a desired level of education is achieved
(Shargel & Smink, 2014). Introduction of vocational training in the education curriculum
from the school level should be considered. Hence, a proper programme should be devised
that meets the entire purpose of improving education system such that the country can
produce more number of skilled labour. Currently, Sri Lanka invests around 2.8 percent of
the GDP in the education sector, which is low. Thus, Sri Lanka should at least spend 5
percent of the GDP in education sector if Canada is considered as standard. The complete
fund for education should be allocated sector wise that is primary, secondary and higher
education (Mercan & Sezer, 2014). Stronger the education sector lesser will be the brain

17ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
drain from the country for higher education (Ziguras & Gribble 2015). However, health is the
fuel that allows one to work hard. Thus, health is the complementary factor to education.
Simultaneous development of both the sector is thus required to bring out true potential of
labour. Investment in health sector does not only mean to improve the hospitals, medical
centres, increasing number of specialized doctors and introducing all types of treatment, it
should also make the proper programme to make people aware of health issues and benefits
of leading healthy lifestyle (Phelps, 2016). Canada as a rich and developed country, still
increasing its expenditure in health sector, on the other hand, Sri Lanka has dropped its share
of expenditure in health sector. Sri Lanka should at least increase its expenditure to 10
percent of the GDP in health sector. However, this requires more fund and it can be raised by
Savings Encouraging Policies. Hence, Sri Lanka should increase the interest rates on
deposit and attract more savings. This will create a cyclical effect and helps to create more
capital. As there will be more savings the country can spend more on necessary factors like
education and health. With improved level of education and health, people will earn more and
thus save more (Corak, 2013). The induced effect further increases the expenditure in the
priority sector and the cycle will go on generating more capital for the country. Capital per
worker will rise and thereby output per worker rises. For education and health, a multi-
dimensional policy is required that develops, monitors and controls the entire health and
education system from fundamental to higher level (Connors & Morris, 2015). Effective
monetary and fiscal policy is thus required to boost savings rate.
Population Control Policies
Population growth of the country should be controlled, as there is land constraint to
accommodate large number of population. Apart from the problem of accommodation, there
will be crisis of food in the future if population grows uncontrollably. From the Malthusian
theory of population, it can be argued that population grows higher than the rate of food

18ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
growth and there is a limit of food production due to limitation of resources. More population
means there will be more consumption and thereby less saving decreasing the capital
accumulation. Thus, to control population Sri Lanka can aware the people of the country to
make family planning and can restrict the number of child per parent and can formulate
policies through which parents with allowed number of children will be given subsidy in
child education (Perry, 2013). This policy will serve two objective at once, one is population
control and the other is increased education. Population growth negatively influences capital
accumulation. Further, lower capital accumulation leads to low steady state capital stock and
hence low economic growth in the long run. Moreover, with better capital accumulation in
the short run steady state growth achieved in the long run will be much higher and then only
Sri Lanka can catch up Canada. The most important policy to control population growth is
making people aware. Awareness can be spread through television advertisements, street
campaigns and introducing to education curriculum. Introduction to education curriculum is
much more effective as benefits and importance can be explained to the future of the country
at the very basic level would actually lead to the fulfilment of the objective.
The above discussed policy recommendations are the basic ones that are the primary
requirement for a poor country like Sri Lanka to catch up with Canada. The policies should
be implemented in order. Increasing savings and controlling population growth are long-term
projects. Therefore, awareness and steps regarding increasing savings rate should be
implemented first and then the policies on population growth. As discussed earlier saving is
the base of education and health policies, thus with improved savings rate the policies of
education and health can be implemented successfully. Hence, if the order of the policy
implementation is maintained then it is likely that welfare of Sri Lanka increases and the
country grows economically.

19ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that with effective policies Sri Lanka
definitely can catch up with the rich country Canada. Theories of economic growth that are
discussed above leads to the said conclusion. The Solow model shows how output,
population or labour, savings rate and capital influences the growth of an economy and
influences the catching up process in both negative and positive ways. Hence, the Solow
model alone provides the insight of the catching up theory. It also suggests what should be
done to catch up faster. There are different conditions that lead to different steady state
conditions, thus it means that there is no fixed steady state growth. The importance of
population can further be understood from the Malthusian theory that explains the
relationship between population growth and food crisis. Other factors that influence the
economic growth are education, health and technology. All these factors positively influence
the economic growth. Education and health are the factors responsible for increase in human
capital or quality of labour. These factors and their proxy variables are used to compare the
conditions of Canada and Sri Lanka. The findings from the study helped to identify the
strength and weaknesses of Sri Lanka. The strength factors are low good savings rate and
population growth in comparison to Canada while weaknesses are low expenditure on health
and education sector and upward trend in population growth. Low GDP is also a negative
factor but that can be solved with in the long run. The short run policies that Sri Lanka should
focus on are increasing expenditure in education and health sector, reducing and maintaining
steady population growth along with policies to encourage less consumption and more
savings in order to achieve the desired level of capital accumulation and thereby maximum
level of steady state growth equilibrium.

20ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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