The Stages of Economic Growth
A Non-Communist Manifesto

This third edition of The Stages of Economic Growth, first published in 1991, includes a new preface and appendix.

W. W. Rostow (Author)

9780521409285, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 February 1991

324 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.43 kg

'This interesting, well-written and important book projects a new light on various problems and will be much discussed. Its 167 pages of text provide a world history of the last century or two in terms of the stages of economic growth of the principal nations.' Financial Times

This third edition of The Stages of Economic Growth, first published in 1991, has a new preface and appendix, Professor Rostow extends his analysis to include economic and political developments as well as the advances in theory concerning nonlinear and chaotic phenomena. For those coming to his work for the first time, the original text and the introductions and appendices from earlier editions are included. This volume will not only be of interest to those concerned with the theory of economic growth, but also to students of policy since the 1960s. In the text Professor Rostow gives an account of economic growth based on a dynamic theory of production and interpreted in terms of actual societies. Five basic stages of economic growth are distinguished with detailed discussions of each stage including illustrative examples. He also applies the concept of stages of growth to an examination of the problems of military aggression and the nuclear arms race. The final chapter includes a comparison of his non-communist manifesto with Marxist theory. Materials from the second edition include an appendix in which he responds to some of his critics.

Preface to the third edition
Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
1. Introduction
2. The five stages-of-growth - a summary
3. The preconditions for take-off
4. The take-off
5. The drive to maturity
6. The age of high mass-consumption
7. Russian and American growth
8. Relative stages-of-growth and aggression
9. The relative stages-of-growth and the problem of peace
10. Marxism, communism, and the stages-of-growth
Appendix A. The diffusion of the private automobile
Appendix B. The critics and the evidence
Code. Reflections on the debate as of 1990
Acknowledgments
Index.

Subject Areas: Development economics & emerging economies [KCM]