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Development
Economic growth
measures of economic performance in terms of the value of
income, expenditure, and output
The HDI
Calculating the HDI: an example
Life Education index
expectancy Income
index
Literacy
(2/3)
Enrolment
(1/3) index HDI
85 years 1 100% 100% 1 40,000 1 1
78.1 0.68
49 0.433
780 0.34
41.4 0.27
25 years 0 0% 0% 0 100 0 0
(log scale)
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ROSTOW, Walt W.(UT Austin: 1969-2003)
This is a linear theory of development. Economies can be divided into primary secondary
and tertiary sectors. The history of developed countries suggests a common pattern of
structural change: The Stages of Economic Growth: An Anti-Communist Manifesto (1960)
Stage 1: Traditional Society
Characterized by subsistence economic activity i.e. output is consumed by producers
rather than traded, but is consumed by those who produce it; trade by barter where goods
are exchanged they are 'swapped'; Agriculture is the most important industry and
production is labor intensive, using only limited quantities of capital.
Stage 2 :Transitional Stage
The precondition for takeoff. Surpluses for trading emerge supported by an emerging
transport infrastructure. Savings and investment grow. Entrepreneurs emerge ( how they
emerge is not spelt out)
Stage 3 :Take Off
Industrialization increases, with workers switching from the land to manufacturing.
Growth is concentrated in a few regions of the country and in one or two industries. New
political and social institutions are evolving to support industrialization.
Stage 4 :Drive to Maturity: Growth is now diverse supported by technological innovation.
Stage 5: High Mass Consumption
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Implications of Rostow's theory
Development requires substantial investment in capital equipment (K) ; to
foster growth in developing nations, the right conditions for such investment
would have to be created i.e. the economy needs to have reached Stage 2.
For Rostow:
1. Savings and capital formation (accumulation) are central to the process of
growth, hence development
2. The key to development is to mobilize savings to generate the investment to
set in train self generating economic growth.
3. Development can stall at Stage 3 for lack of savings. Suppose the deficiency
in savings is on the order of 15-20% of GDP. If S = 5% then foreign
aid/loans of about 10-15% plugs this ‘savings gap’. Resultant investment
means a move to Stage 4-Drive to Maturity and self generating economic
growth, i.e. virtuous cycles (e.g. Botswana)and not vicious cycles (e.g.
Argentina).
4. Once Stage 5(High Mass Consumption ) is achieved, this society continues
to have high consumption and maintains such by incentives to savings plus
additional key ingredients (good governance, property rights, human capital
and functioning institutions)
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