How to Cite
Abstract
Following the Second World War, the economic reconstruction of Europe became a central priority, exemplified by the Marshall Plan, while development in less industrialized countries gained global significance. In the 1940s and 1950s, classical development theories emerged, emphasizing capital accumulation, industrialization, and structural transformation, with the state as a key agent of change. Influential approaches included Rosenstein-Rodan’s Big Push, Nurkse’s Balanced Growth, Hirschman’s Unbalanced Growth, Lewis’s Dual-Sector Model, Prebisch’s Import Substitution Industrialization, Rostow’s Stages of Growth, and Myrdal’s Cumulative Causation and Soft state concepts. This study critically synthesizes the main concepts of these approaches, highlighting shared features such as structuralist orientation, the central role of the state, and the importance of capital and coordination, while noting their neglect of micro-level factors, limited empirical grounding, and assumption of linear growth. Implementation failed due to weak institutions, governance challenges, and regional variation. Nevertheless, enduring insights, such as coordination mechanisms, economies of scale, sectoral linkages, and dual-sector dynamics, remain relevant. The paper shows how these theories influenced later developments, including New Growth Theory, New Institutional Economics, and behavioral approaches, which integrate macro- and micro-level dynamics, and formal modeling. The offered perspective underscores the continuing relevance of classical structuralist ideas.
Keywords. Development economics; Development theory; Development; History of economic thought.
JEL. B25; B31; O10; O20.
References
Acemoglu, D., Carvalho, V. M., Ozdaglar, A., & Tahbaz‐Salehi, A. (2012). The network origins of aggregate fluctuations. Econometrica, 80(5), 1977–2016. https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA9623
Adelman, I. (2001). Fallacies in development theory and their implications for policy. In G. M. Meier & J. E. Stiglitz (Eds.), Frontiers of development economics: The future in perspective (pp. 103–134). World Bank; Oxford University Press. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/15230
Adelman, J. (2013). Worldly philosopher: The odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman. Princeton University Press.
Alacevich, M. (2016). Albert O. Hirschman. In E. Reinert, J. Ghosh, & R. Kattel (Eds.), Handbook of alternative theories of economic development (pp. 456–474). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781782544685.00031
Alacevich, M. (2021). Paul Rosenstein-Rodan and the birth of development economics. History of Political Economy, 53(5), 857–892. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-9395086
Banerjee, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty. PublicAffairs.
Bhagwati, J. N., & Eckhaus, R. S. (Eds.). (1972). Development and planning: Essays in honour of Paul Rosenstein-Rodan. Allen & Unwin.
Chang, H.-J. (1993). The political economy of industrial policy in Korea. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 17(2), 131–157. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23599704
Chenery, H. B., & Strout, A. M. (1966). Foreign assistance and economic development. The American Economic Review, 56(4), 679–733. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1813524
Diebolt, C., & Monteils, M. (2000). The new growth theories: A survey of theoretical and empirical contributions. Historical Social Research, 25(2), 3–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20757794
Dosman, E. J. (2008). The life and times of Raúl Prebisch, 1901-1986. McGill-Queen's University Press.
Fei, J. C., & Ranis, G. (1964). Development of the labor surplus economy: Theory and policy. Richard D. Irwin.
Fields, G. S. (1975). Rural-urban migration, urban unemployment and underemployment, and job-search activity in LDCs. Journal of Development Economics, 2(2), 165–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3878(75)90014-0
Gerschenkron, A. (1962). Economic backwardness in historical perspective: A book of essays. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Harris, J. R., & Todaro, M. P. (1970). Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis. The American Economic Review, 60(1), 126–142. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1807860
Hirschman, A. O. (1945). National power and the structure of foreign trade. University of California Press.
Hirschman, A. O. (1958). The strategy of economic development. Yale University Press.
Hirschman, A. O. (1984). A dissenter's confession: "The strategy of economic development" revisited. In G. M. Meier & D. Seers (Eds.), Pioneers in development (Vol. 1, pp. 85–111). Oxford University Press.
Hirschman, A. O. (1995). A propensity to self-subversion. Harvard University Press.
Ingham, B., & Mosley, P. (2013). Sir Arthur Lewis: A biography. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137366436
Kattel, R., Kregel, J. A., & Reinert, E. S. (Eds.). (2009). Ragnar Nurkse (1907–2007): Classical development economics and its relevance for today. Anthem Press.
Kindleberger, C. P. (1977). Economic development (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Krugman, P. R. (1993). Toward a counter-counterrevolution in development theory. Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics 1992, 15–38. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/16335
Krugman, P. R. (1997). Development, geography, and economic theory. MIT Press.
Lewis, W. A. (1954). Economic development with unlimited supplies of labour. The Manchester School, 22(2), 139–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9957.1954.tb00021.x
Lewis, W. A. (1955). The theory of economic growth. George Allen & Unwin.
Lucas, R. E., Jr. (1988). On the mechanics of economic development. Journal of Monetary Economics, 22(1), 3–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3932(88)90168-7
Meier, G. M. (2001). The old generation of development economists. In G. M. Meier & J. E. Stiglitz (Eds.), Frontiers of development economics: The future in perspective (pp. 13–50). World Bank; Oxford University Press.
Millikan, M. F., & Rostow, W. W. (1957). A proposal: Key to an effective foreign policy. Harper & Brothers.
Milne, D. (2008). America's Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War. Hill and Wang.
Moore, M. (2001). Political underdevelopment: What causes bad governance? Public Management Review, 3(3), 385–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719030110059511
Murphy, K. M., Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. (1989). Industrialization and the big push. Journal of Political Economy, 97(5), 1003–1026. https://doi.org/10.1086/261641
Myrdal, G. (1944). An American dilemma: The Negro problem and modern democracy. Harper & Brothers.
Myrdal, G. (1953). The political element in the development of economic theory. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Myrdal, G. (1957). Economic theory and under-developed regions. Duckworth.
Myrdal, G. (1968). Asian drama: An inquiry into the poverty of nations. Twentieth Century Fund.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511808678
Nurkse, R. (1935). Internationale Kapitalbewegungen. Julius Springer.
Nurkse, R. (1952). Growth in underdeveloped countries: Some international aspects of the problem of economic development. The American Economic Review, 42(2), 571–583. [suspicious link removed]
Nurkse, R. (1953). Problems of capital formation in underdeveloped countries. Basil Blackwell.
Personenlexikon Internationale Beziehungen virtuell (PIBv). (2025). Rostow, Walt W. https://ulrich-menzel.de/cmsimpleplus/index2a49.html?Q-T:Rostow%2C_Walt_W
Prebisch, R. (1950). The economic development of Latin America and its principal problems. United Nations. https://archive.cepal.org/handle/11362/2997
Roland, G. (2002). The political economy of transition. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(1), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.1257/0895330027147
Romer, P. M. (1986). Increasing returns and long-run growth. Journal of Political Economy, 94(5), 1002–1037. https://doi.org/10.1086/261420
Rosenstein-Rodan, P. N. (1943). Problems of industrialisation of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The Economic Journal, 53(210/211), 202–211. https://doi.org/10.2307/2226317
Rosenstein-Rodan, P. N. (1957). Notes on the theory of the ‘big push’. Center for International Studies, MIT.
Rostow, W. W. (1953). The process of economic growth. Clarendon Press.
Rostow, W. W. (1956). The take-off into self-sustained growth. The Economic Journal, 66(261), 25–48. https://doi.org/10.2307/2227401
Rostow, W. W. (1960). The stages of economic growth: A non-communist manifesto. Cambridge University Press.
Singer, H. W. (1950). The distribution of gains between borrowing and investing countries. The American Economic Review, 40(2), 473–485. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1811124
Tignor, R. L. (2006). W. Arthur Lewis and the birth of development economics. Princeton University Press.
Toye, J. (2017). The many faces of socioeconomic change. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198723349.001.0001
Williamson, O. E. (1985). The economic institutions of capitalism: Firms, markets, relational contracting. Free Press.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.