Premium
ARTHUR LEWIS's CONTRIBUTION TO DEVELOPMENT THINKING AND POLICY
Author(s) -
RANIS GUSTAV
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the manchester school
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9957
pISSN - 1463-6786
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9957.2004.00431.x
Subject(s) - criticism , dualism , variety (cybernetics) , neoclassical economics , economics , relevance (law) , positive economics , subject (documents) , function (biology) , epistemology , philosophy , political science , law , computer science , artificial intelligence , evolutionary biology , library science , biology
Arthur Lewis's seminal 1954 paper and its emphasis on dualism appeared at a time when neither the work of Keynes and 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. Some, spearheaded by neoclassical microeconomists like Rosenzweig, raised serious challenges and focused especially on its labor market assumptions. This paper reviews this landscape and asks what theoretical or policy relevance the Lewis model retains for today's developing countries.