Become dust - and they will throw thee in the air; Become stone - and they will throw thee on glass.
Of course, a positive growth rate might be taken as evidence that a population is below its optimum.
Competitiveness is really what it costs you per man-hour to get you what you want. In other words, there's an education level that plays into the mix and so if it's inexpensive to buy an hour of real good education in places like China versus the U.S., that factors in.