Growth Center Concept Re-examined in the Context of Accelerated Rural Development

Abstract

The most popular scenario for economic development is simple and clear: Maximize the economic growth by concentrating the investments into a few industrial-urban complex. This conventional approach which is often called the unbalanced growth model or polarized development has been popular because of two important reasons inter alia. It is attractive because it makes feasible an impossible decision task for the decision-makers who face almost limitless problems relative to limited resources.

In addition to the psychological advantage, the conventional wisdom has a strong support from the history of development in economically advanced countries. The development occurred in a polarized way at the initial stage showing a widening gap of economic welfare between regions, in particular between urban and rural areas. At later stages the development, however, spread out to other regions reducing the regional disparity. In the conventional scenario, the growth pole concept is essential, because it is a focal point of investment and growth.