Rostow's stages of economic growth model is one of the major historical models of economic growth. It was published by American economist Walt Whitman Rostow in 1960. The model postulates that economic growth occurs in five basic stages, of varying length: 1. * The traditional society 2. * The preconditions for take-off 3. * The take-off 4. * The drive to maturity 5. * The age of high mass-consumption