Industrialization and structural change in developing countries

Studies of economic growth have produced much evidence of similarities in development patterns of most countries. There are always dangers in cross-country studies that unique historical, economic and political' factors might be ignored, but when countries are grouped according to size, resource endowment and trade orientation, factors making for uniformity in patters of structural change appear to predominate. The identification of ‘normal’ patterns of structural change and industrialisation is useful for policy‐makers, not in the sense that they provide rigid guidelines but rather in the sense that they raise important issues relating to the nature and consequences of structural change and appropriate policy responses.