Relevance of Growth Models to Development Planning

Abstract

Growth model can be viewed in three distinct ways. Firstly, they can be viewed as "analytical filing" devices. Secondly, they can be viewed as casual schemes of explanation. Thirdly. they can be regarded as an example of "instrumental inference". From the point of view of development planning, the first and the third uses are very important. It is argued in the paper that from these points of view, they do serve important purposes. This is true despite the existence of numerous deficiencies from which currently existing models suffer. This argument is supported in the paper with the help of illustrations from the existing literature on growth model.