Includes bibliographical references and index

Chapter 1: Looking for growth -- Growth: the stylized facts -- Hunting for Quarks -- Looking at the "Sifire" family models -- Chapter 2: How Sifire compressed development -- Globalization: the vital backdrop -- Old light -- Crises and consequenses -- Investing in growth -- Learning and innovation -- Creative cities -- What Sifire got right -- Chapter 3: Elements of a learning economy -- Changes in economic structure -- The rise of high-tech exports -- Education sector: an overview -- Innovation capabilities -- Innovation facilitator -- Concluding observations -- Chapter 4: Governance and growth -- Coordinators -- Institutions for growth -- Power of urban networks -- Chapter 5: Delivering quality education -- The power of quality education -- Vocational training -- Sustaining consistent performance -- Starting almost from scratch: what it takes -- Chapter 6: The message from Sifire -- Pragmatic governance -- Leveraging global markets and general-purpose technologies -- Updating the Sifire experience -- Quality of human capital -- Implications for African countries