Classic Theories
of Economic
Growth and
Development
INTRODUCTION
EVERY NATION
STRIVES FOR DEVELOPMENT
But economic progress is not the only
component
DEVELOPMENT > material &
financial
Widespread realization = national context +
international economic + social system
Theories of economic development
Theory – systematic explanation of
interrelationships among economic
variables.
Purpose – to explain causal
relationships among these variables,
to understand world better and
provide basis for policy.
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Classical theory
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Classical theory
• Natural order determines price, rent, &
economic affairs.
• Competitive economy promotes public
interest.
• Freedom from government restriction.
Institutions to supply money.
• Capital accumulation (savings) – output –
wages.
• Division of labor – related to market size.
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Classical theory (Cont)
• Free trade.
• Diminishing returns.
• Iron law of wages.
• Formulated amid scientific
discoveries & technical
change.
• Major flaws – population
theory & lack of
technological change.
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LINEAR
STAGES THEORY
LINEAR STAGES THEORY
DEVELOPMENT AS GROWTH
Post-war interest on poor nations
- Economists had no conceptual apparatus for largely
agrarian countries w/o modern economic structures
Strands of thought
- Marshall Plan: US financial and technical
assistance to war-torn European countries
- All modern industrial nations were once
underdeveloped agrarian societies
LINEAR STAGES THEORY
Rostow’s
Stages
of
Growth
* Developed countries already passed all stages. Underdeveloped in
traditional and preconditions stage should just follow rules of dev’t to
self-sustaining economy
I. LINEAR STAGES THEORY
PROBLEMS:
• Mechanisms of development embodied in the
theory DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK
• WHY? More savings and investment are not
sufficient
• Worked for Europe because of necessary
structural, institutional, and attitudinal conditions
STRUCTURAL
CHANGE
MODELS
STRUCTURAL CHANGE
2-SECTOR SURPLUS MODEL/
LEWIS THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT
- Structural transformation of a subsistence economy
• Presence of 2 sectors: overpopulated rural sector w/
zero marginal labor productivity and a high-productivity
industrial sector
• Transfer of labor from traditional to modern, growth of
product output
STRUCTURAL CHANGE
PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT ANALYSIS
- Economic, industrial and institutional structure of an economy
transformed to permit new industries as engine of growth
-
Capital accumulation + changes in economic structure needed
-
Constraints (affect level of dev’t): Internal - resources,
population size, government policies; External – access to
capital, technology, trade (countries as part of internatl system)
-
Empirical work of Harvard economist Holllis Chenery and his
colleagues, cross-sectional and time-series studies of
countries at diff. levels of per capital income, identified
characteristic features of the development process:
STRUCTURAL CHANGE
PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT ANALYSIS
• Shift from agri to industrial production
• Steady accumulation of physical and human capital
• Change in consumer demand from basic necessities to diverse
manufactured goods
• Growth of cities and urban industries
• Decline in family size ad overall population
- Proponents of structural change model prefer “facts to speak for
themselves” unlike theories such as stages of growth
INTERNATIONAL-
DEPENDENCE
EVOLUTION
INTERNATIONAL-DEPENDENCE
EVOLUTION
1. NEOCOLONIAL DEPENDENCE MODEL
- Small elite ruling class (landlords, entreps, military rulers,
merchants, public officials, etc.) interests (knowingly or not) to
perpetuate the international capitalist system of inequality
-
The elite serve or are rewarded by international special-
interest power groups tied by allegiance or funding to wealthy
capitalist countries
-
Elites’ viewpoints inhibit genuine reform efforts and may lead to
even lower levels of living and perpetuation of
underdvelopment
-
External-induced against internal constraints