Today, a large number of scholars studying development understand this process as involving learning and capability building. Capability building is an active, not a passive, process. It requires a purposeful effort from the learner's side, with support and commitment on allocation of time and resources toward learning activities. This process implies the possibility of failure as well as success, as we also learn from failures. A global cast of academics and policy makers examines economic development as a process of learning and technological accumulation, showing how economic development is a process involving creative destruction. While markets and market competition play major roles in structuring the development process, non-market institutions and government policies matter.

Morris Teubal, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Gustavo Crespi, Inter-American Development Bank, USA José Eduardo Cassiolato, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Helena Maria Martins Lastres, Brazilian Development Bank Michiko Iizuka, UNU-MERIT, the Netherlands Flávio Peixoto, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics Rajah Rasiah, University of Malaya, Malaysia Keun Lee, Seoul National University, South Korea Raphael Kaplinsky, the Open University, UK Howard Pack, University of Pennsylvania, USA Alexandre O. Vera-Cruz, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico Gabriela Dutrenit, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico Valeria Arza, Argentinean National Research Council Bernardo Kosacoff, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina Mario Cimoli, University of Venice, Italy Gabriel Porcile, University of Parana, Brazil