Poles of Development

Abstract

The term ‘development pole’ was first introduced by François Perroux (1955), who argued that analyses of economic development should concentrate on the processes by which various economic activities appear, grow in importance, and, in some cases, decline or disappear. Like Schumpeter, Perroux maintained that entrepreneurial innovation is primarily responsible for the development process, which involves a succession of dynamic sectors, or poles, over time. Although Perroux emphasized relations among industrial branches, the implications of the development pole notion have been elaborated mainly in terms of the geographic location of population and economic activities (Boudeville 1972; Hirschman 1958; Myrdal 1957).