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The most influential and outspoken advocate of the stages-of-growth model was the American economist, professor, and political theorist Walt Whitman Rostow. According to Rostow, the transition from underdevelopment to development can be described in terms of a series of steps or stages through which all countries must proceed.
According to the theory of economic development, associated with the American economic historian Walt W. Rostow, a country passes through sequential stages in achieving development. Countries can be placed in one of five categories in terms of their stage of growth:
Traditional Society
Society is very primitive with limited technology and reliance on subsistence farming. People rely on community bartering rather than an advanced banking system. Society is governed by small ruling elites with strong traditional values.
Preconditions for Take-Off
People see possibilities for improvement. Growing specialization and commercialization of skill and investment in infrastructure. Growing focus on exports of primary production like mining and farming and fuelling investment through surplus.
Take-Off
Economic growth becomes self-sustaining. Huge technological advancement, development of the domestic manufacturing sector. The rapid increase in regional cities and service industries. Political modernization and growing domestic demands. Greater spending on education and social overheads.
Drive to Maturity
Range of domestic production widens, replacement of imports with domestic production/import substitution, increasing diversification and investment from home to abroad. The increasing need for innovation for a gain of efficiency in existing techniques.
Age of Mass Consumption
The economy becomes heavily geared towards service provision due to exploiting comparative advantages in trade and commerce. High-quality world-class infrastructures are in existence. Citizens demand durable consumer goods and society becomes highly sophisticated.
