Can lagging countries catch up?

I am honoured to be invited to deliver the Simon Brand Lecture at these Annual Meetings of South Africa's Agricultural Economics Association. I especially liked the theme your organizers chose for the Conference. My congratulations on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Association. I participated in the organization of the Brazilian Society of Agricultural Economics, and that too was about 40 years ago. You are a vital and vigorous profession - one that you can all be proud of.