One criticism of Rostow's theory of economic growth is that

Q. One criticism of Rostow's theory of economic growth is that:

1. Much available data contradicts is thesis about the take off stage
2. There is no explanation of why growth occurs after takeoff
3. This hypothesis of the stages of growth is difficult to test empirically
4. All of the above are correct

Answer: All of the above are correct

Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth model is one of the major historical models of economic growth. It was published by American economist Walt Whitman Rostow in 1960. The model postulates that economic growth occurs in five basic stages, of varying length:

1. Traditional society
2. Transitional society
3. Take-off
4. Drive to technological maturity
5. High mass consumption

Criticism of the model

1. Rostow is historical in the sense that the end result is known at the outset and is derived from the historical geography of a developed, bureaucratic society.
2. Rostow is mechanical in the sense that the underlying motor of change is not disclosed and therefore the stages become little more than a classificatory system based on data from developed countries.
3. His model is based on American and European history and defines the American norm of high mass consumption as integral to the economic development process of all industrialized societies.
4. His model assumes the inevitable adoption of Neoliberal trade policies which allow the manufacturing base of a given advanced polity to be relocated to lower-wage regions.
5. Rostow's model does not apply to the Asian and the African countries as events in these countries are not justified in any stage of his model
6. The stages are not identifiable properly as the conditions of the take-off and pre take-off stage are very similar and also overlap.
7. According to Rostow growth becomes automatic by the time it reaches the maturity stage but Kuznets asserts that no growth can be automatic there is need for push always.
8. There appear to be two parallel theories of 'take-off' one is that 'take-off' is a sectoral and non-linear notion, and the other is that it is highly aggregative.