Spread Effect
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A concept introduced by Gunnar Myrdal within cumulative causation theory, describing the positive side of growth pole development. A booming region spreads benefits to lagging areas through technology transfer, demand for their goods, industrial relocation, and labor market links. It is the counterpart to the backwash effect, which drains resources from the periphery. Whether a region converges or polarizes depends on which of the two forces is stronger, so policy can amplify spread by building the channels through which it travels.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Convergence check: judge whether a growth pole is lifting its neighbors or draining them instead. - Channel building: invest in the links that let technology, demand, and capital actually travel outward. - Portfolio balance: pair spread-promoting links with measures that steadily curb backwash.
Anchor fast decisions
Growth in a core raises its demand for inputs, land, and labor, and some of that demand spills into neighboring areas. Firms facing rising costs relocate production outward, workers carry skills with them, and suppliers follow their customers. Each of these flows raises productivity and income in the periphery, which in turn increases its own demand. The effect is weak at first and strengthens only once connecting channels such as transport and supply chains actually exist.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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