GERSCHENKRON

BORN RUSSIA 1/10/1904

DIED USA 1978

EMIGRATED TO USA 1938, NATURALISED 1945

SENIOR RESEARCH PROFESSOR, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY,

PRINCETON, 1968-78.

ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (1962)

ROSTOW (ED.), ECONOMICS OF TAKE-OFF (1963)

EUROPE IN THE RUSSIAN MIRROR (1970)

CONTINUITY IN HISTORY (1968)

A CRITIQUE OF ROSTOW’S STAGES APPROACH

SIMILARITIES WITH ROSTOW:-

1. INDUSTRIALISATION PROCESS BEGINS WITH A ‘BIG-BANG’- OR

DISCONTINUITY (‘THE GREAT SPURT’)

2. INDUSTRIALISATION PROCESS CAN BE REDUCED TO A PATTERN

DIFFERENCES:-
1. NO SINGLE PATTERN COMMON TO EVERY INDUSTRIALISER (ie. NO
BRITISH BLUE PRINT)

2. PRECONDITIONS CAN VARY : NO FIXED SET WHICH MUST

PRECEDE ‘TAKE-OFF’ OR ‘BIG-BANG’, OR ‘GREAT SPURT’:
COUNTRIES CAN INDUSTRIALISE FROM DIFFERENT BASES 
SO-CALLED ‘ESSENTIAL’ PRECONDITIONS CAN BE SUBSTITUTED:
RELATIVELY BACKWARD COUNTRIES CAN ACHIEVE
INDUSTRIALISATION:-

‘THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF EUROPE APPEARS NOT AS A SERIES

OF MERE REPETITIONS OF THE ‘FIRST’ [i.e. BRITISH]
INDUSTRIALISATION BUT AS AN ORDERY SYSTEM OF
GRADUATED DEVIATIONS FROM THAT INDUSTRIALISATION’

GERSCHENKRON’S SCHEME

THE COURSE AND CHARACTER OF INDUSTRIALISATION IS DEPENDANT ON

THE DEGREE OF RELATIVE ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS ON THE EVE OF
INDUSTRIAL ‘TAKE-OFF’

PREAMBLE: THE MORE BACKWARD AN ECONOMY AT THE START OF

INDUSTRIALISATION IN COMPARISON WITH THE ECONOMIES OF MORE
ADVANCED COUNTRIES AT THE SAME POINT IN TIME – BUT PROVIDED
THAT A COUNTRY IS NOT TOTALLY BACKWARD (i.e. ASSUMING THAT ‘THE
GREAT STUMBLING BLOCKS’ TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HAVE BEEN
REMOVED) :

1. THE GREATER WILL BE THE DISCONTINUITY WITH PREVIOUS

ECONOMIC EXPERIENCE

2. THE GREATER WILL BE THE OVERALL PACE OF INDUSTRIAL

GROWTH

3. THE MORE PRONOUNED WILL BE THE EMPHASIS ON LARGE

SCALE PRODUCTION (CAPITAL RATHER THAN LABOUR
INTENSIVE)

4. THE GREATER WILL BE THE CONCENTRATION ON PRODUCERS

RATHER THAN CONSUMER GOODS INDUSTRIES

5. THE GREATER WILL BE THE RELIANCE ON TECHNOLOGICAL

BORROWING AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM ABROAD NB:
SUBSTITUTIONS
 6. THE MORE INTENSE WILL BE THE DOWNWARDS PRESSURE ON
LIVING STANDARDS

7. THE GREATER WILL BE THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL AGENCIES

e.g. BANKS, THE STATE.

ROSTOW GERSCHENKRON
STAGES DIVERSITY/RELATIVE
BACKWARDNESS
PRE-CONDITIONS SUBSTITUTES
TAKE-OFF GREAT SPURT

GERSCHENKRON IN A NUTSHELL:

ADVANCED RELATIVELY EXTREMELY

BACKWARD BACKWARD
BRITAIN GERMANY RUSSIA
SPONTANEOUS SUBSTITUES BANKS: SUBSTITUTES STATE:
ENTERPRISE
SPONTANEOUS BANKS
ENTERPRISE
SPONTANEOUS
ENTERPRISE

LIMITATIONS OF GERSCHENKRON’S APPROACH

1. NOT A THEORY OF INDUSTRIALISTION i.e. NOT AN ANALYTICAL

TOOL – WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE BIG BANG/DISCONTINUITY??

2. IF THE ‘GREAT STUMBLING BLOCKS’ TO INDUSTRIALISATION HAVE

BEEN REMOVED, HOW CAN AN ECONOMY BE TERMED BACKWARD?

3. WHAT ARE THE ‘GREAT STUMBLING BLOCKS’??

4. HOW DO WE DEFINE ‘ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS’??

5. DESCRIPTIVE RATHER THAN ANALYTICAL