Endogenous

endogenous: produced from within.

Dictionary of Sexology Project: Main Index

Endogeneous economic theory suggests that it is possible for economic growth to occur without the need for more factors of production as suggested in the classical model (i.e.: add more capital, labour, land and/or enterprise). Instead, technical and tacit knowledge allows workers to create goods and services more productively, or of better quality, by deriving greater utility from a static quantity of resources. It also refers to the development of new products. Indeed some economists account for technology to be responsible for 70% of economic growth in the 1990s.

Advances in agronomy, for example, might lead to more crops being yielded per acre. Or quite simply, work smarter, not harder. Endogeneous growth models are seen as a possible solution for developed countries who are trying to work out how to sustain economic growth. Having an educated, diverse population helps.

En*dog"e*nous (?), a.

1. Bot.

Increasing by internal growth and elongation at the summit, instead of externally, and having no distinction of pith, wood, and bark, as the rattan, the palm, the cornstalk.

2. Biol.

Originating from within; increasing by internal growth.

Endogenous multiplication Biol., a method of cell formation, seen in cells having a cell wall. The nucleus and protoplasm divide into two distinct masses; these in turn become divided and subdivided, each division becoming a new cell, until finally the original cell wall is ruptured and the new cells are liberated (see Segmentation, and Illust. of Cell Division, under Division). This mode of growth is characteristic of many forms of cells, both animal and vegetable.

 

© Webster 1913.