For Smith and his successors over the first 175 years, any episode of sustained economic growth overwhelmingly required investment capital. We economists were by and large capital boosters, and our magic formula for economic development was saving, investment, thrift, and wealth accumulation.
但是，将这个过程反过来，国家就会变得贫困，史密斯认为他在同时代的亚洲看到了这一点。对史密斯和其后超过175年内的继承者来说， 任何经济的可持续增长绝对需要投资资本。我们经济学家基本上是资本的拥护者，我们发展经济的魔力公式是储蓄，投资，节俭和财富积累。对这一思想最后和最全面的表述是在上个世纪五十年代末期华尔特·罗斯托的著作《经济增长的阶段》中。