growth rate of output; these are the means to achieve growth in the Harrod–Domar model. Significance Domar proposed the model in the aftermath of the great depression, intending to model economies in the short-run, during a period where there is high enough unemployment such that any additional machine may be fully utilized by labor. Consequently, production can be modelled as a function of capital only. Although the Harrod–Domar model was initially created to help analyse the business cycle, it was later adapted to explain economic growth. Its implications were that growth depends on the quantity of labour and capital; more investment leads to capital accumulation, which generates economic growth. The model carries implications for less economically developed countries, where labour is in plentiful supply in these countries but physical capital is not, slowing down economic progress. LDCs do not have sufficiently high incomes to enable sufficient rates of saving; therefore, accumulation of physical-capital stock through investment is low. The model implies that economic growth depends on policies to increase investment, by increasing saving, and using that investment more efficiently through technological advances. The model concludes that an economy does not "naturally" find full employment and stable growth rates. Criticisms The main criticism of the model is the level of assumption, one being that there is no reason for growth to be sufficient to maintain full employment; this is based on the belief that the relative price of labour and capital is fixed, and that they are used in equal proportions. The model also assumes that savings rates are constant, which may not be true, and assumes that the marginal returns to capital are constant. Furthermore, the model has been criticized for the assumption that productive capacity is proportional to capital stock, which Domar later stated was not a realistic assumption. See also Economic growth Feldman–Mahalanobis model Solow–Swan model References Further reading Economics models Economic growth