Brenda Barrientos on "The Promise of Development"

Professor and economist Joseph Stiglitz's chapter "The Promise of Development" was written as an in-depth discussion covering the assorted conditions that created the modern-day hierarchy of economic globalization between third world and first world countries. In his analysis of the characteristics held between third world and first world nations, Stiglitz stipulates that one of what separates the two is a "knowledge gap."
Stiglitz remarks in the first quarter of the chapter that the one task less developed countries had to involved simply catching up with their technological and knowledgeable superiors (30). But that goal still and will, Stiglitz says, remain an impossibility, so long as there is a gap between the nations in education and the technological resources(28), like Jamaica in our second reading or other countries like India. However, these views were shown after the recent discussion of the problems created by policies backed by the IMF and World Bank. The economist showed off an extensively example of China's successful economic management involving a myriad of different measures, one of which included an expansion of primary and higher education which Stiglitz rationalizes was the country's realization that a skilled and informed workforce would be able to understand and utilize more advanced technology (32).

I do concur with Stiglitz that one of the main concerns of any economy, besides feasible policies, includes an able workforce that's capable of managing, effectively participating, and evolving the market. The goal that should be kept in mind when considering the economic priorities of national governments should reflect some of those actions taken by China, where each governmental action taken is in consideration of working together in conjunction with other policies - like the conjunction of infrastructure with highly skilled individuals - and therefore fluidly work the economic system in a cycle that won't bring the whole system downhill. That gap in knowledge between the countries of the world presents a questions, however: what prevents a nation from being given access to advanced technology, and what bares successful models of economics like China from being mimicked?
That "knowledge gap" mentioned in Stiglitz's work is formally called the knowledge gap theory, and rather than being broadened to the relations between countries, it is explained as the idea that knowledge, like wealth, is disproportionally distributed throughout the social classes of society. There are multiple forms of research that focus on or take into account the knowledge gap in economics, so it's not uncommon. There are likely more extensive explanations as to the circumstances and policies that prevent it from being bridged, but it's been graciously simplified by an online article explaining several causes and possible solutions to amend the knowledge gap, though it leaves out any real world applications or backlashes to any attempts to cover the rift between social classes in education. 
It would be enlightening in upcoming discussions to cover the possible complications that come with bridging the knowledge gap and methods of amending those complications.