IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevst/v42y2006i3p490-508.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Currie's 'leading sector' strategy of growth: an appraisal

Author

Listed:
  • Ramesh Chandra

Abstract

This paper offers a new interpretation of Lauchlin Currie's (1974) leading-sector strategy. The idea of a leading sector normally conjures up notions of a favoured or privileged treatment. This paper argues that Currie's leading-sector strategy is a misnomer in the sense that it does not call for any favoured treatment to the chosen sectors (such as urban housing or exports), but only removal of handicaps or institutional barriers. The paper also shows that Currie's strategy is different from Rosenstein-Rodan's (1943, 1961) big push, to which it is often compared. While Rosenstein-Rodan advocated centralised investment planning to maximise the size and to optimise the composition of investment, Currie's leading sectors were based on the Smith (1776)- Young (1928) pro-market framework. Finally, while the policy conclusions of Currie's approach and the current development thinking are similar in many ways, the underlying theoretical framework is very different.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramesh Chandra, 2006. "Currie's 'leading sector' strategy of growth: an appraisal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 490-508.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:42:y:2006:i:3:p:490-508
    DOI: 10.1080/00220380600576391
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380600576391
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00220380600576391?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ramesh Chandra, 2004. "Adam Smith, Allyn Young, and the Division of Labor," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 787-805, September.
    2. Ramesh Chandra, 2003. "Allyn Young revisited," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 30(1), pages 46-65, January.
    3. David Laidler & Roger Sandilands, 2002. "An Early Harvard Memorandum on Anti-Depression Policies: An Introductory Note," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 515-532, Fall.
    4. Murphy, Kevin M & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1989. "Industrialization and the Big Push," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1003-1026, October.
    5. Edwards, Sebastian, 1998. "Openness, Productivity and Growth: What Do We Really Know?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(447), pages 383-398, March.
    6. Young, Allyn A., 1928. "Increasing Returns and Economic Progress," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 38, pages 527-542.
    7. Samuel Hollander, 1971. "Some Implications of Adam Smith's Analysis of Investment Priorities," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 238-264, Fall.
    8. Allyn A. Young, 1913. "Pigou's Wealth and Welfare," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 27(4), pages 672-686.
    9. Ramesh Chandra & Roger J. Sandilands, 2005. "Does modern endogenous growth theory adequately represent Allyn Young?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(3), pages 463-473, May.
    10. Kaldor, Nicholas, 1972. "The Irrelevance of Equilibrium Economics," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 82(328), pages 1237-1255, December.
    11. Edwards, Sebastian, 1997. "Trade Policy, Growth, and Income Distribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 205-210, May.
    12. Buchanan, James M. & Yoon, Yong J., 2000. "A Smithean Perspective on Increasing Returns," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 43-48, March.
    13. Edwards, Sebastian, 1992. "Trade orientation, distortions and growth in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 31-57, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ramesh Chandra & Roger J. Sandilands, 2021. "Nicholas Kaldor, increasing returns and Verdoorn’s Law," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 315-339, April.
    2. Ramesh Chandra, 2022. "Was Allyn Young a Marshallian?," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 258-279, June.
    3. Ramesh Chandra & Roger Sandilands, 2006. "The role of pecuniary external economies and economies of scale in the theory of increasing returns," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 193-208.
    4. Roger Sandilands, 2009. "An Archival Case Study: Revisiting The Life and Political Economy of Lauchlin Currie," Working Papers 0906, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    5. Roger J. Sandilands, 2009. "Solovian and New Growth Theory from the Perspective of Allyn Young on Macroeconomic Increasing Returns," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 41(5), pages 285-303, Supplemen.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ramesh Chandra & Roger Sandilands, 2006. "The role of pecuniary external economies and economies of scale in the theory of increasing returns," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 193-208.
    2. Álvaro Martín Moreno Rivas, 2008. "Las leyes del desarrollo económico endógeno de Kaldor: el caso colombiano," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 10(18), pages 129-147, January-J.
    3. Satya Prasad Padhi, 2020. "Poverty Gaps and Gaps in Theory: A Note on “Dynamising” Small Firms," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(3), pages 847-858, September.
    4. Utku Utkulu & Durmus Özdemir, 2005. "Does Trade Liberalization Cause a Long Run Economic Growth in Turkey," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 245-266, September.
    5. Harrison, Ann & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2010. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4039-4214, Elsevier.
    6. Atish R. Ghosh & Holger Wolf, 1998. "Thresholds and Context Dependence in Growth," NBER Working Papers 6480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. John E. King, 2010. "Kaldor and the Kaldorians," Chapters, in: Mark Setterfield (ed.), Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Growth, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Murat Arsel & Servaas Storm, 2015. "Forum 2015," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(4), pages 666-699, July.
    9. Ramesh Chandra, 2022. "Was Allyn Young a Marshallian?," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 258-279, June.
    10. A. P. Thirlwall, 2013. "Economic Growth in an Open Developing Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15208.
    11. Peter Schmidt, 2014. "EU regional policy and its theoretical foundations revisited," ERSA conference papers ersa14p1560, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Satya Prasad Padhi, 2018. "Importance of Employment Growth: A Perspective on Technological Progress," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(2), pages 401-409, June.
    13. Satya Prasad Padhi, 2021. "Employment dynamics, increasing returns and Marx's falling rate of profit," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 74(298), pages 219-245.
    14. Tarlok Singh, 2010. "Does International Trade Cause Economic Growth? A Survey," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(11), pages 1517-1564, November.
    15. Harrison, Ann E. & Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 2009. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy," MPRA Paper 15561, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. J. Love & E. Turner, 2001. "Exports, domestic policy and world markets: a panel study," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(5), pages 615-627.
    17. Yew-Kwang Ng & Xiaokai Yang, 2005. "Specialization, Information, And Growth: A Sequential Equilibrium Analysis," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 20, pages 447-474, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Azariadis, Costas & Stachurski, John, 2005. "Poverty Traps," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, Elsevier.
    19. Ramesh Chandra & Roger J. Sandilands, 2021. "Nicholas Kaldor, increasing returns and Verdoorn’s Law," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 315-339, April.
    20. Lucas Bretschger, 2003. "Growth in a Globalised Economy: The Effects of Capital Taxes and Tax Competition," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 03/24, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:42:y:2006:i:3:p:490-508. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FJDS20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.