В кн. 4 / 2025 на Journal of Economic and Social Thought бе публикувана студията на Хенрик Егберт, Мартин Хофщат, Теодор Седларски и Александър Б. Тодоров "Pioneers of development economics in the 1940s and 1950s: Foundations of contemporary economics”:

Egbert, Hoffstadt, Sedlarski, Todorov, "Pioneers of development economics in the 1940s and 1950s: Foundations of contemporary economics" (2025) (pdf)

(пълен текст на студията)

Pioneers of development economics in the 1940s and 1950s: Foundations of contemporary economics

Henrik Egbert, Martin Hoffstadt, Teodor Sedlarski, Aleksandar B. Todorov

Abstract: Following the Second World War, the economic reconstruction of Europe became a central priority, exemplified by the Marshall Plan, while development in less industrialized countries gained global significance. In the 1940s and 1950s, classical development theories emerged, emphasizing capital accumulation, industrialization, and structural transformation, with the state as a key agent of change. Influential approaches included Rosenstein-Rodan’s Big Push, Nurkse’s Balanced Growth, Hirschman’s Unbalanced Growth, Lewis’s Dual-Sector Model, Prebisch’s Import Substitution Industrialization, Rostow’s Stages of Growth, and Myrdal’s Cumulative Causation and Soft state concepts. This study critically synthesizes the main concepts of these approaches, highlighting shared features such as structuralist orientation, the central role of the state, and the importance of capital and coordination, while noting their neglect of micro-level factors, limited empirical grounding, and assumption of linear growth. Implementation failed due to weak institutions, governance challenges, and regional variation. Nevertheless, enduring insights, such as coordination mechanisms, economies of scale, sectoral linkages, and dual-sector dynamics, remain relevant. The paper shows how these theories influenced later developments, including New Growth Theory, New Institutional Economics, and behavioral approaches, which integrate macro-and micro-level dynamics, and formal modeling. The offered perspective underscores the continuing relevance ofclassical structuralist ideas.

Keywords: Development economics; Development theory; Development; History of economic thought.

JEL.B25; B31; O10; O20.

EGBERT, H., HOFFSTADT, M., SEDLARSKI, T., & TODOROV, A. B. (2026). Pioneers of Development Economics in the 1940s and 1950s: Foundations of Contemporary Economics. Journal of Economic and Social Thought, 12(4), 171–194. https://doi.org/10.65810/jest.v12i4.2653

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37075/ISA.2025.3.01