Considerations on regional development and the spatial location of economic activities in the developing countries

In 1956, in view of the growing international disparities in rates of development, Myrdal asserted that it was risky to maintain that there had been economic progress in the last few decades for mankind as a whole. Today, after three decades of efforts to examine in greater depth the theory and practice of regional development, efforts of which the papers of the I.G.U. Commission on Regional Aspects of Development represent part, w can permit ourselves to re-examine the question which he posed. The aim of the present paper, then, is to attempt to set out the contribution of the contemporary theory of regional growth to the analysis and solution of the problems facing the developing countries. The first section reviews the important achievements of this contemporary theory, which provided the context out of which the papers of the Committee have developed. The second section analyses the contribution made by the I.G.U. Commission, while that third deals with limitations of the theory in the light of the actual situation in the developing countries.