Advantage integration: A methodological framework for growth and development

Abstract

AbstractThis paper proposes an analytical framework for growth and development, and based on this methodological framework, this paper reveals why the United States has become powerful and predicts its probable decline. Different from the past views, this paper argues that the advantage integration–oriented production model and the proactive open strategy and policy orientation based on it are the core driving forces for growth and development. Driven by both capital and technology, the economic structure and social fabric of the United States has been undergoing tremendous changes for more than 200 years, so the members, the power, and the appeals of different interest groups are also changing. At the microlevel, the production model adapted to the economic structure and social fabric of the United States is changing, and correspondingly, at the macrolevel, the strategy and policy orientation of the United States are changing as well. This paper details the advantage integration–oriented development practices in U.S. history and briefly discusses the prospects of the practical application of this methodology. The United States is a typical country that achieved catch‐up through advantage integration and ultimately gained global economic dominance, and this implies that the strategy and policy based on this model of development are necessarily open and positive. However, the current growing conservative policy orientation in the United States may not be a good sign.