Industrialization and the Big Push

Abstract

This paper explores Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan's idea that simultaneous industrialization of many sectors of the economy can be profitable for them all even when no sector can break even industrializing alone. The authors analyze this idea in the context of an imperfectly-competitive economy with aggregate demand spillovers, and interpret the big push into industrialization as a move from a bad to a good equilibrium. They present three mechanisms for generating a big push and discuss their relevance for less-developed countries. Copyright 1989 by University of Chicago Press.