This paper explores the role of 'social capability' in growth
and development. We present a wide variety of evidence to show
that economic growth is strongly related to the extent of a 
country's initial social development. We also show that differences 
in social capability can explain the polarization that may be taking
place in the world income distribution. Finally, our results lead us
to reject the influential augmented Solow model in favour of the
alternative view, in which technology is allowed to differ across
countries and social factors play a role in the speed of catching up.