Overview: Learning from Developmental Success

In his seminal work, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (1962), Alexander Gerschenkron pointed out that only in a loose sense could the less advanced countries be said to follow the path traced by the ‘pioneers’ or forerunners of development. There are, instead, a multitude of actual paths taken by the latecomers to development that are fundamentally different. There are many reasons for this. First, the nature and attributes of the ‘backwardnesss’ of the followers today are not the same as those of their forerunners; the ‘initial conditions’ are different. Secondly, and most significantly, the followers have at their disposal knowledge and lessons that were not available to the forerunners, so that the path followed to development may be based on the ‘advantage of backwardness’ derived from their exploitation of the knowledge and experience of forerunners. Thirdly, followers are driven by an entirely different ‘spirit’ or ideology, which includes the drive to ‘catch up’, a drive that did not exist for the pioneers. This nonlinear view of history and development suggests the importance of learning from others so as not to mechanically retrace the path traversed by the forerunners with the purpose of avoiding some of the errors that they may have made over certain periods, of discovering new possibilities and of ‘leapfrogging’ over various phases.