The Stages of Economic Growth

Economist W.W. Rostow in 1959 had a vast amount of information and intelligence in the history of the economy. Putting his intelligence and information together he wrote The Stages of Economic Growth, a small article in a much larger book, The Economic History Review. In this particular article Rostow feels that there are different stages in economic growth that countries follow: the traditional society, the preconditions for take off, the take off, and the age of mass consumption. Once countries pass these five different stages they will be at a good economic level. Rostow believes that this article will bring some understanding of the "phenomena of growth" brought about by consumers, goods, and any other x factor.

The first stage is the Traditional Society or a pre-Newtonian society. This society lacks the technology and innovations of a science that has not yet come full circle in this society. However, this society has managed to evolve and progress through the limited production. Due to the society being limited due to their lack of innovative technology they relied heavily on agriculture. Since agriculture was their main source of income during time of war, plague, or another x factor caused the economy to fluctuate. With agriculture comes a lot of down time or time when there is no harvest creating an important social aspect to this society. Time that is not spend on the land is spent socializing and on keeping the hierarchy in place. This hierarchy gave political and social power to the landowners who were able to make the most money because of the agriculture. Before the society can break off from this agriculture based economy there has to be an in between and that stage is called the Preconditions for Take-Off.

The second stage, Preconditions for Take-Off are the steps that are necessary to make it to the third stage. There are two characteristics for this stage that began after the Medieval Times. The first characteristic is the evolution of modern science and a scientific attitude. Scientific innovations allowed the people to get away from simple agriculture. The mind frame of these scientists also evolved socially. The hierarchy is seen less and less and education and entrepreneurship is on the rise. The second characteristic is the discovery of new land and what new uses the society can use the new and old land. This new land not only created a larger market for trade but also inter-dependence, institutions of finance, and new goods. Once everything is established the Take-Off begins.

The third stage, Take-Off can be seen as the beginning of the modern era. The main qualification to be part of the Take-Off is making you society self-sustained instead of relaying on Earth for agriculture. Take-Off societies have railroads, ships, and other industrial companies. All of these industrial companies are making a better life for their society but also making jobs for the society and making a lot of money for themselves. All the profits are being re-invested or being used towards the betterment of society. The booming jobs and capital is creating an explosive economy. Britain is the first of the European countries to move from Preconditions for Take Off to the Take Off stage. There were several factors in Britain attaining Take Off sooner than other countries. The two most important being the industrial innovation and technology and the second is a naval capabilities allowing them to trade. In order to keep this explosive economy the society must move to the next stage, the Drive to Maturity.

The fourth stage, the Drive to Maturity is a stage in which you want to keep your economy and society not only stable but keeping it moving at a good pace. Rostow defines this period as the "Ð'...period when a society has effectively applied the range of modern technology to the bulk of its resources." The society understands a lot more the use of technology and uses that to its advantage. It does not only try to apply technology to all of the factors of life but it also applies the best technology that there is. Old technology is renovated and renewed and even more technology is invented as time passes. The domestic economy is not the only one booming at this point because there is also an emergence of an international economy. This international economy is brought into light because countries that previously imported goods are now able to make them at home but there are still new import and export items. Maturity is finally reached when a country can demonstrate to the world that they have mastered the technology necessary to produce what is necessary and a little extra for their country. For certain countries the change from coal and iron to steel to make ships and all sorts of different things that put them over the top. Countries not only have different maturity dates but also have