KEY SECTORS IN SOME UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES.

The purpose of this paper is to study the structure of production in some underdeveloped economies. Recent literature on the problem of economic development has greatly emphasized the role of linkages in the planning of economic development. ALBERT HIRSCHMAN, for example, has advocated a policy of investing in the strategic sectors (those with strong backward and forward linkages) of an economy, which in interacting with the other sectors can help to initiate economic development. An autonomous investment can induce further investments through pressures of excess demand. This is the backward linkage effect -- output of the induced industries are the inputs of the autonomous industry. An autonomous investment can also induce further investment by providing an excess supply of its produce. This is the forward linkage -- the output of the autonomous industry is the input of the induced industries[1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]