According to rostows development model, the process of development begins when

According to rostows development model, the process of development begins when

Graph comparing countries GDP per capita as a function of women employed in service sector jobs

Rostow's Model for Development

In the 1950s, W.W. Rostow, an advocate of the international trade approach to development, proposed a five-stage model for it, alternately called the international trade development model or Rostow’s model. The five stages included the traditional society, the preconditions for takeoff, the takeoff, the drive to maturity, and the age of mass consumption. According to the international trade model, every country is in one of these five stages. Similar to the demographic transition model, the more developed countries are in the later stages of development, typically stage four or five. Conversely, the less developed countries are in the earlier three stages of development.

            Stage one, the traditional society, defines a country that has not yet started a process of development. In a traditional society, a very high percentage of the population is engaged in agriculture. Additionally, a very high percentage of the national wealth is invested in “nonproductive” activities, such as military and religion. The second stage involves the preconditions for takeoff. This is when development begins. According to the international trade model, this process of development begins when an elite group within a country initiates economic activities. Under the influence of these leaders, the country begins to invest in new technology and infrastructure, projects which will stimulate an increase in productivity.

            Stage three is the actual takeoff. Rapid growth occurs in a limited number of economic activities. These takeoff industries achieve technical advances and become productive. However, other sectors of the economy still remain dominated by traditional practices. Stage four centers around the drive to maturity. The modern technology previously confined to a few key industries now diffuses to a wide variety of industries. These industries then experience rapid growth, comparable to that of the takeoff industries. The country’s workforce becomes more skilled and specialized. The last part of the international trade model is stage five, the age of mass consumption. In this stage, the economy shifts from production of heavy industry to consumer goods.

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) was created by the United Nations to measure a country’s level of development. It uses three factors –economic, social, and demographic— to distinguish the level of development. The economic factor is the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita produced in a country. To determine the social factor, the HDI measures the literacy rate and amount of education in a country. Finally, the demographic factor is life expectancy. The highest possible HDI for a country is 1.0, or 100%. The country with the highest HDI recently was Norway, with a HDI of 0.963, while the lowest ranked country was Niger, with a HDI of only 0.281.

            When assessing the economic factor, the gross domestic product per capita per year of a country is measured. Gross domestic product is the value of the total output of goods and services produced in a country. Dividing the gross domestic product by the total population measures the contribution the average individual makes towards the country’s overall wealth. However, measuring the gross domestic product per capita only measures the average wealth, not it’s distribution. For example, in a more developed country such as the United States, the gross domestic product per capita is high, but many people are still living in poverty. Likewise, in some less developed countries with a very low gross domestic product per capita, there are still some wealthy individuals. Thus, while gross domestic product per capita is a useful measure in calculating a country’s overall Human Development Index, it is not perfect.

            The social factors for calculating the HDI of a country are both the literacy rate and the amount of education in a country. In general, more developed countries will have a greater quantity and quality of education. This simply means that, on average, students will attend school longer, the average student/teacher ratio will be lower, and the literacy rate will be higher than in less developed countries. The literacy rate, an important factor in calculating the HDI of a country, is simply the percentage of a country’s people who can read and write.

            Finally, the demographic factor used to compute a country’s HDI is life expectancy. Life expectancy is simply the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live at current mortality levels. Obviously, the life expectancy will be longer in more developed countries and shorter in less developed countries. People may expect to live longer in more developed countries because of better health and welfare. Additionally, since more developed countries have longer life expectancies, they have a greater percentage of older people than less developed countries.

Graph

To more fully explore the concepts of HDI and Rostow's model, I created a graph comparing three different countries on the basis of factors that would differ from more developed to less developed countries (this graph is included above, including a link to the site where it can played in full as a graph of the changing statistics in the countries over the years). In creating the graph, I thought back to learning about the social and economic standing of women in the world, and how that affected the quality of life in different countries. Though in no country have women achieved complete equality with men, those where women are more equal tend to be more developed and economically successful. The main reason for this correlation is that more equality for women means better education, which in turn translates to more women in the workforce (though women also have yet to achieve complete equality of pay with men). If more women are working in higher sector (or service sector) jobs in a given country, they are actively contributing to their country’s economy, instead of placing a burden on it by relying on men to support them. Thus, I chose to make the percentage of female service workers the independent variable on my graph. I thought that the percentage of women in the workforce would directly relate to the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in a country, for the aforementioned reasons. In choosing which countries to represent on the graph, I wanted to use countries from different stages of Rostow’s model of development. I chose Norway, boasting a HDI of 0.963, to represent a country in the late stages of Rostow’s model. I then selected Chile, with an HDI of 0.862, to represent a country in the middle stages of Rostow’s model. Finally, I chose Nigeria, which has an HDI of 0.459, to represent a country in the early stages of the model.

Note: A link to the website has been included; if it does not work, the address for the actual site of the graph is: www.bit.ly/TP00hI.

Outcome

The overall product seemed to be consistent with each country’s HDI and progress in terms of Rostow’s model. They seemed to follow his model fairly closely. As expected, Norway consistently had a large percentage of women employed in service sector jobs, as well as the highest overall gross domestic product per capita of all of the three countries. Chile was second, both in percentage of women employed in service sector jobs and overall gross domestic product per capita. While the percentage of both women employed in service sector jobs and the gross domestic product per capita grew for both Norway and Chile over the years (despite some minor setbacks in certain anomalous years), the percentage of women employed in service sector jobs actually decreased in Nigeria, and the gross domestic product per capita, while not declining significantly, stayed at a relatively low, if consistent, level.

            From the perspective of Rostow’s model, these countries fit well. Obviously, Norway is in stage five of the model. It has not only a large percentage of women employed in service sector jobs, indicating social progress, but also a very high gross domestic product per capita. Thus, the country has moved into the stage where the economy shifts from production of heavy industry to consumer goods. Chile, as indicated by the graph, most likely fits with stage three of Rostow’s model. There are more women employed in service sector jobs, indicating not only greater equality (a hallmark of a more advanced society), but also more secondary and tertiary sector jobs. The gross domestic product per capita, which is fairly high (though not as high as that of a fully developed country such as Norway), supports the claim that they are in stage three of the international trade development model. Lastly, Nigeria, while most likely not in stage one (as there are few, if any, countries remaining that are completely isolated, traditional societies), has developed no further than stage two. As indicated by the low gross domestic product per capita, in part resultant of the low percentage of women employed in service sector jobs, Nigeria has not advanced economically, and most of the citizens are probably still employed in primary sector jobs. Thus, Nigeria may have the preconditions for takeoff, but it certainly has not achieved takeoff itself. 

How does Rostow explain development?

Rostow argues that through increased investment, increased exposure to modernized, Western society, and changes in traditional culture and values, societies will become more highly developed.

Which is the first stage in Rostow's model of economic growth?

Using these ideas, Rostow penned his classic "Stages of Economic Growth" in 1960, which presented five steps through which all countries must pass to become developed: 1) traditional society, 2) preconditions to take-off, 3) take-off, 4) drive to maturity and 5) age of high mass consumption.

Which of the following is a stage in Rostow's stages of development?

Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth include the following five stages: Traditional Society; Preconditions for Take-Off; Take-Off; Drive to Maturity; and Age of High Mass Consumption.

What did Rostow's stages assume quizlet?

assumed that all countries wanted to modernize, and that all would, though at different speeds. Also saw that economic development as a linear progression in which countries moved from one stage to the next until they reached high mass consumption.