Arthur Lewiss Contribution to Development Thinking and Po.pdfVIP

ECONOMIC GROWTH CENTER YALE UNIVERSITY P.O. Box 208629 New Haven, CT 06520-8269 /~egcenter/ CENTER DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 891 ARTHUR LEWIS’ CONTRIBUTION TO DEVELOPMENT THINKING AND POLICY Gustav Ranis Yale University August 2004 Notes: Center Discussion Papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussions and critical comments. This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at: /abstract=583302 An index to papers in the Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper Series is located at: /~egcenter/research.htm Arthur Lewis’ Contribution to Development Thinking and Policy Gustav Ranis Yale University Abstract Arthur Lewis’ seminal 1954 paper and its emphasis on dualism appeared at a time when neither the work of Keynes or Harrod-Domar nor the later neoclassical production function of Solow seemed relevant for developing countries. As a consequence, his model, rooted in the classical tradition, plus its many extensions, generated an extensive literature at the center of development theory. The approach also encountered increasingly strong criticism, some of the “red herring” variety, but some, spearheaded by neoclassical microeconomists like Rosenzweig, also raised serious challenges, focused especially on its labor market assumptions. This paper