1. The Failure of Development Panaceas All-encompassing hypotheses concerning the sources of economic growth periodically surface, and with the support of adequately chosen cross-country correlations, enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame. Over the last few decades, the list of proposed panaceas for growth in per-capita income has included high rates of physical-capital investment, rapid human-capital accumulation, low income inequality, low fertility, being located far from the equator, a low incidence of tropical diseases, access to the sea, favorable weather patterns, hands-off governments, trade-policy openness, capital-markets development, political freedom, economic freedom, ethnic homogeneity, British colonial origins, a common-law legal system, the protection of property rights and the rule of law, good governance, political stability, infrastructure, market-determined prices (including exchange rates), foreign direct investment, and suitably conditioned foreign aid. This is a growing and non-exhaustive list.