Ideas from new growth economics are considered in the context of British economic policy. A distinction is drawn between "broad capital" and "endogenous innovation" growth models and the latter are seen as more helpful. Solow's insight that in the long run growth is independent of routine investment is regarded as still valid but the neoclassical assumption of convergence in technology is not. A key goal of policy should be to target the rate of total factor productivity growth and thus to address market failures inhibiting technology transfer. Policy initiatives should include institutional reforms as well as the appropriate design of taxes and subsidies. Copyright 1996 by Oxford University Press.