So which comes first – individual intrinsic growth, or societal intrinsic development?37 The likely answer is that they cause each other. Individual growth tends to lead to national growth and vice versa. Socioeconomic growth and Maslovian development, like many strongly correlated social phenomena, are mutually reinforcing, at least up to a certain point of wealth. As people become richer, they aspire toward something more than mere survival. And as more people aspire to something beyond survival, society makes itself richer.
